


In a Different World

by inkheart9459



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-18
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2017-12-05 18:25:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 50
Words: 116,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/726428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkheart9459/pseuds/inkheart9459
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Strange dreams have been plaguing Myka and Helena in the aftermath of Syke's attack. Dreams real enough to leave their skin tingling with imaginary fire long after the dreams themselves have faded. But dreams are just dreams, they can't mean anything, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and Welcome to my first Bering and Wells story. Though this isn't the first place I've posted it, it's been on fanfiction for a while, but I figured that I ought to use this account to do something other than stalk other people's fic, not that that's a bad thing. Now that I'm here, this story is canon up through Emily Lake and most of Stand, with parts of the beginning of season four when it suits the story. The story switches back and forth between Myka's and H.G.'s point of view, so be prepared for that. Also, html isn't my strong suit, so this may look a little funky while I work out the kinks. Eeep. Other than that, read and enjoy.

Helena sat up gasping. She rubbed the sweat off of her forehead. Another dream. The same dream. How many times did this make now? She had lost count.

She sat up and fumbled for the switch on her bedside lamp. Her breath caught in her throat. She felt as if she were encased in bronze again, arms heavy and not responding to her commands. Something fell off her nightstand, thudding to the floor. She jumped and almost screamed. Finally, her fingers found the switch and the room flooded with light.

Her breathing eased and the heaviness left her limbs. She glanced over and saw what had fallen was the book she had been reading before bed. She put her head in her hands. She hated that darkness affected her this way. Most nights she could tolerate it, tell herself she was being a silly child. The nights when the dreams came were different.

She drew her knees up to her chest. Such dreams had become common since the day Skyes had almost destroyed the Warehouse. It was always the same terrifying thing. Her worst fears lain out before her.

It always started as they were walking into the Ovoid quarantine, the debate over how to defuse the bomb raging. The idea that had saved their lives never came, though. Gandhi’s bodhi never seemed to cross anyone’s mind. Instead, Helena had walked over to the breaker box on the wall and had started to fiddle with it. She found a flaw in the system that would save everyone…except her.

She felt the fear rise up again and hugged her knees harder to her chest. Even awake the dream was potent. She ran a hand through her bed mussed hair.

In the dream she had closed her eyes for a fraction of a second at the realization that there was no way she could survive and made a decision. Her hand set to work before her eyes had even fully opened. When she turned around, two arching cables in her hand, she looked at Myka, still hunched over the bomb, trying for all she was worth to disable it. She closed her eyes and smiled, touching the two cables together. Part of the barrier created by the Ramati shackle surrounded Myka, Pete, and Artie.

The group had looked up at her, shocked. No one really understood what she had just done.

“Helena, what are you doing?” Myka had asked, shoving Pete and Artie out of the way to look at her.

“It was the only way I could think to save you,” she replied.

“But you’re out there.” Myka’s eyes had gone wide.

“It had to be initiated from outside the barrier.” She smiled sadly.

Pete and Artie had started to speak, but Helena hadn’t heard them. She was solely focused on Myka. “I love you,” she mouthed to the woman on the other side of the barrier.

She watched as tears collected in Myka’s eyes. A pang went through her at the sight. She hoped Myka would be alright.

A sudden whiff of apples made her smile again. “I smell apples.”

And then the dream dissolved into a ball of fire.

She shivered. Dreams weren’t supposed to hurt, but her nerves still tingled painfully. She rubbed her hands absently to try and get rid of the pain.

She looked over at the clock. The red numbers stared back at her accusingly. It was nowhere near a decent hour to be awake. It would have to do, though. On nights like tonight she never got back to sleep. Staring at her ceiling for the next few hours did not sound appealing either.

She sighed and levered herself out of bed. If she couldn’t sleep then she might as well get ready for the day, perhaps sequester herself in the library until everyone else was awake. She smiled at that. The smell and feel of books always calmed her.

She gathered a change of clothes and her toiletries and stepped out into the hallway.


	2. Chapter 2

Myka sat bolt upright, her fists and legs tangled in the sheets. She fought to free herself from her binds. She wished that such things wouldn’t happen while she slept, that the sheets would just stay in perfect order no matter how she moved, but the world never did quite work how her orderly mind wanted. Not that her mind was all that orderly at the moment, or had been since Skyes had almost taken down the Warehouse. Her dreams had been a reflection of that. She sighed and rubbed her hands up and down her arms to get rid of the lingering feel of dream fire.

If she dreamed of herself burning with the Warehouse one more time, she might truly loose all of the order in her mind. But in the dream it had all been worth it, she had saved Helena.

And Artie and Pete, too, she reminded herself. But somehow, even though she loved them both like family, they weren’t quite as important as Helena. Myka shook her head. It wasn’t important. It was just a dream after all.

A dream that repeatedly kept her up at night.

She looked over at the clocked. 4 am. Close enough to her normal wakeup call at 5:30 it wasn’t really worth trying to go back to sleep. She was thankful for that. She could justify getting up instead of trying to force herself back to sleep because that was the right thing to do.

She yawned and got up out of bed, stretching as she walked across the room to her dresser. A crisp blouse and a pair of slacks later, she headed out the door. And right into someone else.

Myka fell back into her room with an, “Oomph.”

“Oh darling I’m so sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going. I didn’t think anyone else would be up at this hour,” said a lovely British accent from the hall. Myka looked up into dark eyes, the light from the lamp in her room not quite enough to light up Helena’s eyes enough to see where her irises ended and her pupils began. She felt like she was falling into them.

“Are you alright, Myka?” Helena walked into her room and knelt beside her.

Myka snapped out of her stupor. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry. I guess I’m not as awake as I thought.”

“At four in the morning I don’t suppose you would be.”

Myka shrugged.

“Why are you up, anyway?”

“Just woke up and knew I wouldn’t get back to sleep. Why are you up, Helena? Usually we have to drag you out of bed.”

The corners of Helena’s mouth ghosted up. “Yes, well I did always prefer the night to the morning, but tonight, however, the sandman had other plans. Ones involving, well I wouldn’t quite call it a nightmare, but something of the sort.”

“Oh,” Myka said. She paused a minute considering, before adding, “Me too.”

HG lowered herself into a sitting position. “Would you like to talk about it?”

Myka glanced over at Helena and the feeling from the dream right before the bomb blew up overwhelming her. Acceptance that she was going to die, sadness that this would cause Helena even more pain in her already painful life, love for the woman standing behind the barrier.

The last feeling always struck her like a bag of bricks. How could she be in love with Helena? She was another woman, a woman that had betrayed her, and even though Myka had forgiven Helena, the feelings of hurt were still deep with her, healing as the days past, but very slowly. Yet how couldn’t she be in love with her? This woman knew her better than everyone else, willing to sacrifice her life to protect the world even after it had caused her so much pain.

“It was about the day Skyes almost blew up the Warehouse…except in my dreams he succeeded. We didn’t find Gandhi’s bodhi. We couldn’t find any way to stop it. But I found a way to save you…and Artie and Pete. I rerouted part of the barrier that the Ramati shackle formed and surround you--you guys with it. I don’t know how I did it, but I did. And then you realized what I had done, and you just gave me this pained look, like why would I do that, and then everything just turns to fire.” Myka sucked in a breath after the rush of words. Only after a few seconds did she realize that she had stopped adding Artie and Pete to the story, and had only mentioned Helena. She hoped Helena didn’t notice. Helena just looked at her like she had seen a ghost. She swallowed with a visible effort. “Myka, I’ve been having the same dream, except it is I who save you.”

Myka scrunched her eyebrows. “Surely, it’s just a coincidence.”

Helena looked at her skeptically. “We work in the Warehouse, Myka. Things are rarely a coincidence here.”

“They’re just dreams, Helena.”

“Perhaps. Perhaps they are just a reaction to the stress and realization just how fragile everything is, but I think you and I both can deal quite well with stress and already knew just how fragile things can be. Perhaps we’re having nearly identical dreams because we are so alike in spirit. Perhaps they keep us up at night just because we’re afraid. But, Myka, that’s a lot of perhaps-es for the Warehouse.”

She shook her head, throwing some of her hair into her face. “It’s nothing, I’m sure of it.”

Helena gently tucked a strand of Myka’s hair back into place. “And a mirror is just a mirror here in Univille, South Dakota.”

Myka quickly stood, scrabbling back over to her bed. “You know what maybe I should go back to bed. I think I’m still a little tired. Goodnight, Helena.”

“Goodnight, darling.”

Helena stood with a hint of a smile on her face watching the other woman out of the corner of her eye as she walked out of the room and made her way downstairs to the library. She curled up on the couch, grabbing the first book nearest to her. The discussion wasn’t over. She just had to wait for Myka to come to her.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Myka stood in her room as the door closed behind Helena. She stared at the mussed bedspread blankly, chewing her lip. Surely Helena was just overreacting. Surely. A shiver made its way up her body, goosebumps covering the flesh exposed to the air.

But what if it was her who was under reacting? Helena was right. They did work for the Warehouse and nothing was ever what it seemed at face value. Could Helena be right?

No. It she couldn’t be.

She started to pace the room, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror that hung on the back of her door. Her hair hung limply around her face. Dark circles were under her eyes. She looked tired, worn, and defeated. Not like someone who had come through an almost literal trial by fire and lived. She scowled. What was she doing wrong?

She sighed. Whatever it was she needed to figure it out soon, otherwise she might look like a dead woman walking soon. Myka continued pacing the short length of the room, growing more and more restless. There was no way she could carry through with going back to sleep. Not that she had really thought she could in the first place. Then why exactly had she told Helena that? Her brow knit together. She probably shouldn’t think about that.

Still, she stopped pacing and looked to toward the room door despite herself. She walked over and opened the door carefully, making as little noise as possible. She stepped out into the hallway and shut her door behind her again.

Myka looked down the stairs towards the first floor. If she knew Helena she would be in the library reading at this hour. She could go there, that would stop the pacing alone in her room. Surely that was better.

No. She told herself. She would just go back into her room and spend and nice morning there.

Doing what? It wasn’t like her room held much entertainment beyond sleeping. Sure, she had her well worn copy of War of the Worlds on her nightstand, but for once she wasn’t much for an HG Wells book this morning. She could go make herself breakfast. But then again Leena would be up in a few hours anyway to cook. TV was too loud for this time of night, and wasn’t really her thing anyway.

Myka tried to deny the inevitable. It was either go down to the library and confront Helena, and maybe, if she was lucky be able to just slip by her and curl up with a nice book, maybe Dickens this morning, or sit in her room and stare at the walls until everyone else woke up.

Staring at the walls it was. She walked into her room and flopped down on her bed. Funny how she had gotten up earlier to avoid this and yet here she was. Thoughts swirled around in her mind, what she had to do at the warehouse today, more inventory of course; that she had better call her parents soon or they would think her dead, or at least her mom would start to worry; the love she felt for Helena. No, no not that last one. She stopped in mid-thought. She wouldn’t think about that right now, maybe ever.

She started to count the bumps on the ceiling instead. After a thousand the bumps started to blend together and she lost count. Myka groaned in frustration. This was ridiculous. What was she even doing right now?

She forced herself out of bed and walked to her door again, but stopped with her hand on the handle. Was this really a good idea? What were the pros and cons? She was finally awake enough that her analytical side had started to fully function. Pros, she actually got out of her room, she would sort out this who crazy dream thing with Helena, and perhaps she could make her see sense, if she couldn’t she could help Helena come up with some sort of plan to avoid what their dreams laid out to make Helena feel better, even if she didn’t believe it, and afterward there could be a nice cup of coffee and books and maybe she could manage to scoot over nonchalantly and…No. She was not going to do that. Coffee and books were all she needed.

Cons, she might actually have to face her feelings about Helena, and there was no way she would ever be ready for that.

She was out the door before she had even finished the last thought.


	4. Chapter 4

She heard Myka padding down the stairs quietly and smiled. That hadn’t taken quite as long as she had thought. A head full of curly hair peeked around the corner at Helena.

“Myka, darling, come in. It seems Leena has been about cleaning again. I don’t know what happened to the novel you were in the middle of; perhaps it’s on the shelves.”

Oh, it was on the shelves alright, but never where Myka would find it, stuck back behind books on the top shelf she was sure hadn’t been moved in the greater part of ten years. Myka would have to talk to her instead of diving into a book and avoiding her. Helena hid her grin behind the book she had picked at random from the shelf. Not her normal fare, but she wasn’t much focused on it anyway. Amazing how vapid some literature had become over the last century. Romance _novel_ indeed.

“Oh that’s fine,” Myka said sitting in the couch across from Helena after a seconds hesitation. “I think today I’m more in a Dickens mood anyway. Today isn’t a day for Bram Stoker.”

Helena inclined her head. That it wasn’t. Still, that foiled her first plan, but she was ever the one for back ups.

Myka grabbed the nearest Charles Dickens book off the table between them, Great Expectations, and started reading. Helena felt her nose crinkling gently. Definitely not Dickens’ best work, but it was markedly better than the drivel she had in her hands.

Helena settled back into her book to wait. Myka had come to her. The first phase of the game was over, now it was time for the end game. Chaturanga would say it wasn’t her strongest part of the game, but she had changed much since she was under his tutelage. She had set her trap, now all there was to do was wait. She wasn’t nearly as impulsive as she had been back in her first days at the Warehouse. Well, sometimes anyway.

They sat reading in companionable silence for a few minutes. It was quite obvious that Myka was only feigning the act of reading and not really taking anything in. Her eyes stared blankly at the page, not moving.

Helena turned a page in her book.

“Alright, so what happens if the dreams do mean something? What is there that we can do? I mean they’re dreams Helena. I’ve heard of dream symbols and interpretation, but this is taking it a little far.”

Checkmate. Helena bit the inside of her lip to keep her face straight. “Well, I suppose since we do work for the Warehouse, it would be reasonable to see if any of the artifacts we have on hand could make such dreams reality. Perhaps tell Leena, she does seem to have a better grip on the ephemeral than the rest of us. Ask Pete if he’s getting any bad vibes. What would you suggest our plan of action would be, Myka? Obviously if there is a way to preempt anything we want to take it. I’m not fond of the thought of the Warehouse blowing up.”

“No, neither am I.” Myka sighed. “I’d do just what you said, Helena.”

“Good.” Helena turned back to her book.

She felt Myka staring at her for a few minutes more.

“Helena…” she paused a few minutes more before going on, biting her lip so hard it looked painful. “What if the dreams after just…well what if they are dreams and all they mean is that…that we care for each other and the whole episode with Skyes just has us worried that we’re going to lose each other now that everything is finally back to normal again?”

Helena’s eyebrows shot up. She hadn’t thought Myka was ready for that, just yet. It seemed beginning of this next game went to Myka.

“Well, I would say that is plausible.” She looked up at Myka and put down her book, giving the younger woman her full attention. “And if that is all the dreams are?”

Myka swallowed. “I don’t know. I just…it was just a thought.”

Helena got up at circle the table and sat beside Myka on the couch. She placed her hand gently on Myka’s. She felt the other woman’s hand tense below her for a second before relaxing again.

“And what if it’s a correct thought.”

Myka’s other hand went to her hair, twirling a stray curl around her finger. “I-I-I don’t know.” She pulled her hand out from under Helena’s. “I think I need some more time to think about that.”

Helena stood up and returned to her chair. “That could be arranged.”

Myka glanced up at her gratefully. She snatched up her book and fell into reading it, this time her eyes actually moved across the page.

Helena sighed quietly. She had been right; Myka wasn’t quite ready to play the game she so desperately wanted. But that was ok for now. She had spent one hundred years in bronze. She knew how to wait. She picked up her book again, but didn’t remember a word she had read an hour later.

 


	5. Chapter 5

Day finally dawned on the B&B. Myka set the book she was reading down when she heard Leena shuffling around in the kitchen. She got up and set out for the other room. Maybe cooking and cleaning would settle her mind again. Dickens had been a temporary relief, but as the pages wore on, her thoughts had started to seep in again.

“Good morning Leena.” Myka smiled at the innkeeper.

“Morning Myka.” She glanced up and down, seeing something around Myka that Myka couldn’t.

Leena was reading her aura again. Myka never knew whether or not to react to such things as invasion of privacy or not. Seeing as Leena always meant good by it, probably not.

“Are you ok, Myka? You’re up early, even for you.” Leena asked.

“Fine, just a bad dream that’s all. It’s no big deal. Do you need any help getting breakfast ready?” She quickly changed the topic.

“Sure. You make the pancakes; I’ll start the bacon and eggs?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Myka set to work making pancakes, grabbing out a bag of chocolate chips for Pete and Claudia’s helping. Instead of freeing her mind from thoughts, cooking left even more room in her mind for thoughts of her earlier conversation to swirl around, the same thoughts spinning round and round like a dog chasing its tail.

It was almost a blessing when Artie came in and said, “Where are Pete, Helena, Claudia, and Steve? I have pings. For all of us.” 

 

 

Artie gathered everyone around the table while Leena finished up breakfast. Myka had managed to snag the chair between Jinx and Pete, Claudia’s usual seat. The girl had shrugged when she saw the change and flopped down in the chair between Steve and Helena. Myka sighed quietly, glad that Claudia had enough sense not to make a big deal out of it. That was the last thing she needed today.

“So what’s up Artie? Please tell me we’re going after Ben and Jerry’s original ice cream scoop or something,” Pete said.

Artie rolled his eyes. “Not quite. Pete you and I will be going to London. A series of strange murders have occurred and one man has solved them all.”

“Well what’s so strange about that? London’s got themselves a great detective. I’m sure they could use one.” Pete shrugged.

“Well, it might have something to do with the fact that the person solving the murders has absolutely no experience in law enforcement, whatsoever,” Artie snapped. “And all the murders center around one influential gentleman’s club.”

 “What club?” Helena asked.

“The Beefsteak Club.”

Helena snorted. “Prats probably deserve it.”

Artie raised a bushy eyebrow.

“What? I’m not so fond of gentleman’s clubs. I think we all know how I felt about chauvinism in my own time. The gentlemen of that particular establishment were, to put it lightly, worse than most.”

“Yes, well, past grudges aside, an artifact is on the loose there and Pete and I are going to get it.”

He slapped a folder in front of the other agent.

Myka swallowed. If Pete was going with Artie, and Artie said that he had missions for _all_ of them, then who was she going on a mission with. Steve and Claudia were still possibilities. She closed her eyes and sent a prayer to whoever might be listening that that would be the case.

“Claudia and Steve you’re going to Hawaii.”

The pair high fived.

“Yes! We get the awesome mission!” Claudia yelled.

“Claudia, if you actually want to figure out what you’re going to be doing on this mission besides running around in a bikini, you might want to pay attention.” Artie scowled.

Claudia looked slightly chastened, but was still bouncing in her seat.

Artie went on. “It seems that the volcano Kilauea in Hawaii has sudden gone dormant and our sensors think something of the artifact sort is behind it. Snag, bag it, tag it, you know the drill.” Artie handed a file to Steve.

Claudia shot out of the room. “Going to pack bye!”

Myka felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Of course this would happen.

“And Myka and HG, you both are going to Stanford. A series of students have disappeared there under mysterious circumstances.”

He handed Myka their file.

“Same drill.” Artie paused for a second. “What are you waiting for, go!”

Helena arched a delicate eyebrow back at Artie. “Can it not wait until at least after breakfast? I would hate to see all of Leena’s and Myka’s work go to waste.”

Artie shot her a glare. “Go.”

Myka got up out of her chair and practically ran for her room.

 


	6. Chapter 6

Helena followed Myka out of the room, albeit at a much slower pace. The woman could really move if she wanted to. She bit the inside of her lip. This mission wasn’t exactly going to give Myka the space she needed to think.

Helena considered for a moment.

Perhaps that wasn’t such a bad idea. Myka did have a habit of over thinking things.

But then again with the way that Myka had practically sprinted out of the room maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. Her mind kept going back and forth between the pros and cons.

 She cursed herself for telling Myka earlier of her dream. That’s what had brought all of this awkwardness to a head. She would have much rather had everything as it had been before. There was no chance of anything…more, but at least Myka didn’t cringe and run from the idea of spending a few days on a mission with her.

She sighed and walked into her own room to pack. The book she had knocked off this morning still lay on the floor, spine bent at an awkward angle. She ran a hand through her hair and rolled her eyes. Picking it up and setting it back on the night stand, she traced her finger over the gold lettering on the front. A catch 22 this definitely was.

She shoved what she needed into a carry on sized bag walked to Myka’s door, pausing outside. Should she really knock or should she just wait for Myka downstairs? She hesitantly raised her hand to the door and knocked lightly.

“I’ll be down in a second Helena. Go grab breakfast,” came Myka’s voice from inside her room.

“Do you want me to grab you anything before Pete eats it all?” she returned.

“No, I’m fine. I’ll just grab something at the airport later.”

Ugh, airport food. Helena was extremely glad that had not had to put up with such vile fare for most of her lifetime. How Myka stood it, she would never know. She would grab a muffin or something for Myka, a chocolate chip one, if there were any left. They were, after all, her favorite. Myka couldn’t say no to one, much like Twizzlers.

A smile graced Helena’s face. For a woman who didn’t eat sugar, Myka did have quite the sweet tooth. She walked down the stairs, still smiling.

Pete was practically shoving food into his face when Helena walked back into the dining room. Helena sat down and snatched the last chocolate chip muffin from the basket in the middle of the table. She grabbed a napkin and wrapped the baked good in it and slipped it into the top of her bag.

“Hey, if you aren’t going to eat it now give it to me,” Pete said around a mouthful of pancakes.

“Pete, I do believe you have more than enough on your plate, metaphorically and quite literally. Besides, it’s for Myka, not me. You know she’ll want to leave as soon as she gets down here and won’t stop to eat.”

Pete nodded. “True.” Then went back to eating, trying to eat as much as he could before Artie reappeared to whisk him away to London.

Helena put a pancake on her plate and picked at it. She wasn’t quite hungry herself. Her stomach was unsettled for some reason. If she didn’t eat, though, there was airport food in her future. She shivered and managed to down a mouthful of pancake.

After a few more mouthfuls, she looked up from her plate and over at Pete again. “Pete…do you have any vibes right now?”

Pete cocked his head. “No, why?”

“I don’t know. I just…” She shook her head. “Never mind.”

Pete shrugged.

Artie walked in. “Pete have you even packed yet?” A scowl was firmly fixed on the greying man’s face.

Pete held up a bag. “Always keep a bagged packed just for situations like this.”

“What situations, where food is at risk of not being eaten?” Claudia asked walking in the room, grabbing a muffin and a pancake, rolling the pancake and taking a bite.

“A growing boy has got to eat,” Pete replied rubbing his stomach.

“I’m afraid, Pete, my man, that the only way you’re going to be growing if you keep eating like that is out.” She mimed a large gut.

“Hey! I work out!”

“It’s a miracle we ever get any work done around here. Claudia, go find Steve and go. Pete, put the fork down and let us finally be on our way. And you,” Artie turned towards Helena. “Why aren’t you gone yet?”

“My fault Artie. I took a little too long packing.” Myka said as she rushed into the room.

Artie shot a glare at Myka, but it wasn’t quite as cutting as the one he had directed at HG.

“Fine, fine, just leave now if at all possible.”

“Righty-ho then,” Helena said and walked toward the front door.

 


	7. Chapter 7

Myka shot out of the dining room and to her room. Ok, so her hope that she wasn’t going to be the one assigned to go on a mission with Helena hadn’t been granted. That was fine. Fine. She would make it fine. She could do it. She rested her head on her closed bedroom door.

She hoped anyway.

She wandered about her room aimlessly for a few minutes. She was supposed to be packing. She knew that, but she just couldn’t care about that right now. She was going to be stuck with Helena for at least a day, more if this mission didn’t sort itself out right away. And knowing Artie he would only give them clearance for enough money for one hotel room since it was just her and Helena. Oh god, what was she going to do? It was just going to be one long awkward moment.

No. No it wouldn’t. Myka could deal with all of this. She could put all her confusion and feelings aside for a few days. She would just sort them out later. It would all be ok.

She twirled a curl around her finger and took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Slowly she cleared her mind, thoughts sorting themselves into small little boxes to be dealt with later. Myka felt a weight starting to lift off her shoulders.

A knock sounded at the door and snapped her out of it; slamming the weight right back down on her shoulders and letting the boxes of thoughts tumble over and send their contents flying. She had to swallow a few times before she could speak.

“I’ll be down in a second, Helena. Go grab breakfast.”

“Do you want me to grab anything before Pete eats it all?” Helena’s voice was muffled by the door, but Myka could still clearly hear the bone melting accent the woman had.

No. No her mind wouldn’t go there.

“No, I’m fine. I’ll just grab something at the airport later.”

She could practically feel Helena cringe at that. The woman detested airport food. Myka heard the other woman’s footsteps on the stairs a few seconds later. Myka sighed loudly. A little bit of the fog in her mind faded now that Helena wasn’t so near.

Myka grabbed her travel bag from under her bed and actually set to packing. Blouses, pants, and socks were shoved carelessly into the little black case, nothing at all like Myka normally packed, neat, orderly, and tidy. Right now she didn’t have the energy or the time. She zipped up her bag a few minutes later and hoped that she didn’t forget anything. State of mind she was in, she would be lucky if she remember to pack underwear.

She stopped herself on the way to the door. She could do this. She had done this. She had spent years hiding her feelings and pretending like nothing was wrong. This was no different. She felt her face slipping into the calm mask. It felt odd on her face now. It had been so long since she had had to wear it last. Even stranger to be wearing it in the B&B. Bering and Sons was a more familiar setting for this expression. Her childhood home had few fond memories, none of them including her father.

Still, as much as she hated wearing this expression, it worked to calm her thoughts. Her shoulders relaxed, a zing of pain shooting through Myka. She had tensed up without realizing it and now her muscles were reading her the riot act. At this rate the plane ride was going to suck. She’d have stiff muscles before she ever set foot on the tarmac.

Myka continued out her door and down into the dining room. Artie was already shouting at everyone to leave. She caught the last bit of what he said as she walked in.

“And you. Why aren’t you gone yet?” He barked at Helena.

“My fault, Artie. I took a little too long packing.”

He couldn’t be too mad. Myka was usually the first one ready when it came to packing for missions. Artie’s glare softened, but only fractionally.

“Fine, fine just leave now if at all possible.”

Myka had already started walking when Helena said, “Righty-ho then.”

She felt her mask of calm slipping at bit. She had always found it so…charming when Helena used that phrase. She swallowed hard. Nope. Not going there.

She felt Helena following her out to the SUV. Myka slipped into the driver’s seat, jammed the keys in the ignition, and threw her bag into the back seat. Helena got in on the passenger’s side a second later. Myka started the vehicle and pointed them toward the airport.


	8. Chapter 8

The expression Myka wore was almost frighteningly serene. Helena wasn’t sure what exactly had happened to the younger woman while she had been packing, but she was sure it hadn’t exactly been good. Had she made her decision already about what was going on between the two of them? Did she not want to be together, or even friends anymore?

 She snuck another glance at the agent as she turned them onto the highway. Myka was completely focused on the task at hand, eyes fixed ahead, posture straight, mouth set in something between and smile and frown. Helena didn’t like it at all. She hated not knowing. But she did have something that perhaps could fix the situation.

When the SUV was on the highway, straight road continuing endlessly in front of them, Helena dug in her bag finding the muffin she had swiped earlier. She brought it out and unwrapped it, reaching over to tap Myka.

“I grabbed you a muffin. I practically had to pry Pete off of it. I figured one of Leena’s muffins was better than anything you could get at the airport.”

Myka glanced over at her. Helena saw her swallow and her fingers start to twitch on the steering wheel.

Myka reached out with on hand and grabbed the muffin. “Thanks,” she said quietly.

Helena smiled. “You’re welcome.”

Myka nibbled on the muffin. Her expression was still set in that ridiculously look, but now Helena saw it was just a front. A very fragile one at that if the offer of a muffin could shake it.

Helena breathed a little easier. It was just something Myka was doing to get her through the mission. She was just blocking out the feelings to sort out later. She wasn’t shutting Helena out. If she had believed in God she would’ve been thanking him.

With that out of the way Helena settled in for the long car ride.

 

They pulled into the long term parking lot of Rapid City Regional Airport an hour and a half later. Myka switched off the engine and sat motionless for a few seconds. Helena dared not move. She didn’t want to disturb whatever thoughts were running through the agents head.

A second later Myka shook her head. “Sorry, I guess the extremely early morning is catching up to me.” She smiled over at Helena, but her heart wasn’t in it. A pity, Myka’s real smile took Helena’s breath away.

“Understandable,” Helena replied, nodding. She thought anything more than that might break the bubble of peace that Myka had assembled for herself. As much as Helena wanted Myka to figure out her feelings, a mission was no time to be scattered brained. The last thing she wanted was for Myka to get hurt.

“Shall we?” she asked after another few seconds of sitting there.

“Sure.” Myka hopped out of the car, locking it as Helena closed her door.

Helena hiked her bag high up on her shoulder and walked into the terminal. Myka walked over to the electronic ticket counter and printed out both of their tickets. Helena still hadn’t quite gotten the handle on that particular machine. Computers were one thing, ticket machines were quite another. One had to know airport codes to get the blasted machine to work, not exactly her area of expertise. She really did need to get on that. Perhaps Myka would teach her…if this tension between them ever dissolved.

            Tickets in hand they both walked towards security. Helena walked through the line, taking off her shoes and jacket as instructed. A silly precaution she thought. If she really wanted to get through security with some kind of weapon she could easily see three ways they weren’t checking. Then again she supposed most terrorist weren’t of her intelligence. . She shrugged. It wasn’t as if it mattered really. As a Warehouse agent she could fly with her Tesla anyway.

Once through security the pair of them settled into a couple of sparsely padded chairs outside of the gate. Myka was lost in her own thoughts again, so Helena took to people watching. At the next gate their sat an older woman, her hair dyed neon pink, green, and blue. And Helena had thought she had seen it all. She had apparently been wrong on that account.

The woman was on the phone. Helena could hear snatches of the conversation. Something to do with a poetry reading in Ireland. Yes, that would explain much. Even the poets in Helena’s own time had been a little stranger than normal.

Her eyes roamed on, taking in an old man asleep two gates down, a young woman with a baby stroller in front of her, Helena had to swallow past a lump at the sight. She missed Christina dearly. Behind them was a couple holding hands.

Helena sighed. “Myka.” She startled herself. She hadn’t meant to say her name aloud.

“What Helena?” the other woman asked, hearing her name even though Helena hadn’t said it loudly.

“Uh, nothing, excuse me. I hadn’t realized I said that out loud. Sorry.”

Myka stared at her for a few seconds before nodding. “Okay.”

Helena closed her eyes. It looked like this wasn’t going to be an easy mission for either of them. For both their sakes she hoped this was an easy snag. Though, knowing the general nature of artifacts, that was going to be anything but the case. Helena ran her hand through her hair.

Bollocks.

The plane boarded a few minutes later. Despite everything a thrill ran through Helena. She did so love flying. The fact that a machine could achieve the same thing as a bird was fascinating. She almost wished she had stayed unbronzed to see the technology first come about. It sounded like such an exciting time. She supposed if she wanted she could always go back with her time machine and see, but that seemed a little gratuitous.

She settled into her seat beside Myka. There weren’t many other people on the plane. It seemed San Francisco was not a popular destination for the people of South Dakota.

Myka tensed beside her every time she shifted. Helena sighed. It seemed like this was going to be a very long two hour flight. She reached into her bag and brought out the ridiculous romance novel she had been reading back and the B&B and settled in. If only things worked like they did in romance novels…

 


	9. Chapter 9

Myka felt herself growing tired of holding up this façade already. The muscles in her back and shoulders may have relaxed, but everything else about her now was even tenser than before. Sitting beside Helena on the airplane was torture. She was aware of every breath that the woman took, every move that she made. She tried to ignore them, to focus on something else, anything else, but she couldn’t.

God, she wished she was back in the car driving. She had lost herself in the act of guiding the car down the road, not even her thoughts had touched her. Until Helena had offered her that muffin anyway. Chocolate chip. The woman knew her too well.

It had opened up just a little crack in the calm. Just a little tiny one. Myka hadn’t thought anything of it. But even the most catastrophic failures had to start somewhere, a mark, a tiny crack, somewhere deep, somewhere hidden, until they could grow.

She heard the captain come over the intercom, but only registered the fact that he said they were about half an hour out from landing. A half an hour. She could hold out for another half an hour. She had to.

Beside her Helena turned another page in the book she had brought to read. The sound of crackling paper went through Myka like a shot.

She swallowed hard and began counting down the seconds.

 

When the wheels hit the tarmac she had never been happier to be back on solid ground in her life. She bolted off the plane, hoping Helena was at least near enough to see where she was going. She did not want to have to come back for the other agent. She might just break in half from the tension if that happened.

Somehow she ended up with the keys to a rental car in her hand, her bag on her shoulder, out in the parking lot, but she had no memory of how she had gotten there. Helena was beside her now, so very close. She could feel the warmth radiating off the author. She bit her lip and pretended that it didn’t feel wonderful.

They both slipped into the front seat of Mini Cooper. Myka rolled her eyes. Sometimes travelling last second for Warehouse mission worked out smoothly and everything went according to plan. Sometimes, they ended up with cars that were more like toys than cars, or something else not overtly disastrous, but annoying none the less.

She noted the smile on Helena’s face. She probably thought the car was cute. Cute was not going to save them if they got chased by some artifact wielding lunatic, but she felt the corners of her mouth creeping up anyway.

Myka swallowed the feeling of happiness creeping up within her. No. No. She couldn’t have this now. But the last of her mask was almost gone. She was barely hanging on. And they had just gotten to San Francisco. They still had to drive to the hotel, go to Stanford, investigate, find the artifact, snag it, bag it, tag it, and make it back to the Warehouse. She wasn’t going to last that long. What was she going to do?

She bit her lip. Her hand twitched on the steering wheel, wanting desperately to tangle itself in her curls. She wished that she wasn’t driving right now. She laughed at that thought. She had wanted nothing more than to be driving on the plane, but now she needed to be anywhere but behind the wheel, preferably walking outside somewhere letting the wind blow away her thoughts, talking to the trees, telling them things that no one else would ever hear. But that wasn’t where she was now. She slammed on the brake to avoid some idiot who had pulled across three lanes of traffic to get into the exit lane.

She felt dangerous being out on the road in this state, but there was no other choice. Helena driving was even worse than she was even this emotionally compromised. She bit down harder on her lip and drove on towards Stanford.

She managed to get them to their hotel in one piece despite the tiny car and her emotional state. Myka felt like just collapsing with her head against the steering wheel, but she really didn’t want Helena to know anything was wrong. …Well, more than she already did anyway.

The agent levered herself out of the car, grabbing her stuff from the back quickly. She headed into the hotel, Helena following behind her. The desk clerk looked up at her with a bored expression. She smiled as much as she could. Judging from the new expression on the desk clerk’s face it hadn’t gone well. Her hand twirled a curl around her finger.

“Hi, there should be a reservation under Fredric.”

The clerk type a keystrokes into the computer and nodded. “One room, two full sized beds?”

Myka almost cursed. She had been right about Artie being too cheap to reserve two rooms for her and Helena. This _so_ was not helping.

“Yes, that’s right.” This time she didn’t try for a smile. She had a feeling it would send the clerk running.

The clerk gave her two key cards and then they were on their way to their room. Myka handed Helena one of the key cards as they walked. The other woman took the card from her hand, fingertips brushing hers ever so gently. It felt as if a bolt of lightning had traveled up her arm, leaving it hot and tingly. She tried to rub away the feeling discreetly.

They stopped in front of the room number that their key cards bore. Myka unlocked the door quickly, walked into the room, threw her stuff on the bed closest to the door and immediately headed for the bathroom. It was the only place she could be alone right now and that was desperately what she needed.

“I’m just going to freshen up before we head out to Stanford,” she told Helena.

The other woman nodded, sitting gracefully on the other bed.

She shut the bathroom door firmly behind her, throwing the lock, before collapsing on the toilet with her head in her hands.


	10. Chapter 10

Twenty minutes later Myka hadn’t reemerged from the bathroom. There hadn’t even been the sound of running water. Helena was getting worried. Was Myka really ok?

Helena walked over to the door. She hesitated. She might make it worse. But if Myka’s safety was in question did it matter? She could always deal with the consequences later.

She raised her hand to the door and knocked. “Myka, are you quite alright?”

She heard scrambling from behind the door. “Uh, yeah I’m fine. I just-I just…sorry.”

Helena heard the faucet turn on and some splashing. She backed away from the door, satisfied that at least for now, Myka was ok. Physically, perhaps not mentally, not yet. She bit the inside of her lip, should they really be going to Stanford today? 

Myka emerged from the bathroom a second later. Helena watched after her walk over to her bed and start to open her bag. The zipper snagged on something and Myka tugged. The zipper didn’t budge. She pulled it back and tried again, but no luck. Helena stepped forward.

“Let me help.”

“No it’s fine. I’ve got it.” Myka tugged harder, again and again until the zipper came off in her hand.

Helena could see clearly the instant when Myka just broke, shattered, fell to pieces. She could almost see the cracks travel across the agent’s face. The façade she had been so valiantly wearing could not hold out anymore. Myka’s face collapsed in on itself and tears started to flow. She sunk to the floor and wrapped her arms around her legs.

Helena stood frozen just outside the bathroom door. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what she _could_ do. Her legs started moving of their own accord. In less than a second she was knelt by Myka’s side. She wrapped the sobbing woman in her arms and just held on.

She felt useless. Even more useless than she had after Christina had been murdered. At least then she had a plan, something to act on. Her time machine had failed, but then she had known enough to track the men down and…deal with them.

Now, what could she do? She couldn’t fix this. She could set bone, she could staunch bleeding, but this was a different kind of pain. One she couldn’t fix. One she was still trying to work out for herself.

“Myka…” she trailed off not knowing what else to say. She felt tears gathering in her own eyes.

“Helena, I can’t…I just can’t. I-These feelings for you. I don’t even know. I just kept telling myself that you were a friend, a true friend in every sense of the word, the one person who knew me better than I knew myself. But after Skyes’s attack on the Warehouse everything changed. Those stupid dreams kept telling me that it was more than just friendship that I felt for you and I didn’t want to listen to it even then. Then you just had to go and tell me you were having the same dream and I when you told me I could see it in your eyes that you loved me too, and I just didn’t know what to do after that. It wasn’t one sided anymore. If it was one sided I could keep on denying everything to myself. But there was everything I ever wanted to see in a lovers eyes in yours. And then I couldn’t deny myself anymore, and I didn’t know what to do because you’re a woman and I know I shouldn’t really care because love is love and whatever, but I just- God damn it, I don’t like women. I’ve never been with a woman. I’ve never had the inclination to be with one.

“But…then there’s you Helena. And now I just don’t even know what to think anymore other than I love you. You know what, that’s the scariest thing. I love you, and now I’m so scared of losing you I just don’t even want to move. I’m questioning everything I’ve ever known about myself, I just don’t know who I am really, but the scariest thing still is the thought of ever losing you. And I’ve lost you before, you’ve betrayed me, who’s to say that won’t happen again? How can I ever subject myself to those risks? If you do leave, or get killed, or suddenly get transported to 1559 because that’s what some artifact does, I’ll fall apart. I’m already falling apart. And it’s all because of you. It’s all because I’m scared of what will happen if we do get together. I’m scared I’ll lose myself. I almost did when I was together with Sam, and this is so much more than I ever felt with him. His death almost tore me apart. I just can’t even imagine it, Helena, what would happen if I got more attached to you only to have you ripped away. I just can’t. I’m just so scared.”

Helena pulled back from the embrace she had locked the other woman in. Myka’s face was buried in her knees. She placed a hand on the younger woman’s knee.

“Myka look at me.”

The agent complied, looking up at her with tear filled and puffy eyes.

Helena’s hand came up to either side of the woman’s face, thumbs gently wiping away the tears on Myka’s cheeks. She leaned forward, closing her eyes, and lightly brushed her lips against Myka’s. So gently, a second later it was hard to tell that their skin had come in contact at all. A shudder ran through Myka.

Helena opened her eyes and leaned back again. Myka’s eyes fluttered open to meet hers. The green in her eyes was almost painfully bright this close.

“Myka, if there is one thing I know about, it is fear. You cannot let it control you. Fear turns to anger and hatred, and those emotions make you do irrational things, makes you into something that you’re not. Myka, of all the things in this world that showed me there is something worth saving, the biggest thing was you. If you give into fear, that’s not the Myka I know and love. Love can hurt you the most, but it can also heal you the most. Myka you heal me more and more every day. You saved me from myself when I was so near the edge and if I did believe in God I would thank him every day for you.

“Yes, I betrayed you. I berate myself every day for that decision. It was quite possibly the most pathetic and stupid and worst decision I ever made. I could never do another thing to hurt you again. Myka, you are the closest thing to an angel I will ever come to know. I will never leave you. You are my reason for living. If not for you I would be dead by now, by my own hand, or perhaps by the elements if I had managed to cause the next ice age, maybe something else, but I would be dead, and if not for you I would be happy about that. Myka, you can be scared all you like, but don’t let it stop this from happening.” Her voice went hoarse from emotion. “ _Please_.”

She leaned in again and settled her lips against Myka’s. This kiss wasn’t a gentle brush of lips. Helena fully felt the softness of the lips beneath her. She had never felt something so wonderful in her life.

She knew the instant that Myka made her decision. She returned the kiss fiercely, so much emotion in the gesture it made Helena ache. If the kiss transferred even a fraction of what Myka had felt this entire time, she did not know how the other woman had stood it. She would’ve fractured under the pressure long ago.

The need for air drove them apart, but only just. Myka’s arms were now wrapped around her. The two lines of warmth across her back radiated throughout her body. Helena was sure she had never felt so content in her life.

They held each other like that, curled into balls on the floor, for hours, not speaking, barely even breathing. The slightest gust might blow away this perfect fantasy for the both of them. It was too much for either of them to quite believe, not after having the other ripped from their arms night after night by fire. Blink for too long and this might just be a dream as well.

Myka’s grumbling stomach parted them again. Helena laughed at the sound. It somehow brought everything back into reality. Things like growling stomachs did not happen in dreams. This was reality, no matter how tenuous even reality could be.

“Right then, shall we get you something to eat?” Helena said, smiling.

Myka blushed. “Uh yeah, we could just order take out.”

“Nonsense. What would the fun in that be?”

“It would be quick. We still haven’t started investigating at Stanford. Artie will be cranky if we don’t have some sort of lead for him by the time he lands in London.”

“Artie be damned. This is not a night for investigating. The morning will be a sufficient start for the investigation. Until then we shall eat, rest, and sleep. We’ll be better prepared for the events to come that way.”

“But what if someone else disappears?” Myka bit her lip.

“Myka, considering the emotional state we’re both in the next person that might disappear would be us. We would stumble into the artifact and never even realize it. Now isn’t the time. The students of Stanford will be much safer with a rested Bering and Wells.”

Myka sighed. “I guess…”

“Splendid. Now what kind of food are you in the mood for?”

Helena took them both out for a nice dinner at a restaurant overlooking the bay. The restaurant wasn’t fine cuisine, but from the looks of the people, it was a local favorite. Helena watched with a smile as Myka tucked into her meal with joy. It seemed like everything was finally, finally going right.

The returned to their hotel room and exhaustedly changed into their Pjs. Myka slipped under the covers first, looking over at Helena with wide and questioning eyes. Helena finished pulling her hair back into a loose pony tail and turned toward her.

“Stay with me?” Myka asked quietly.

Helena slipped under the covers beside her. “I wouldn’t imagine doing anything else, darling.”

Myka laid down and Helena scooted over till she was pressed up against the woman. She draped an arm around the younger woman’s waist and sighed. The warmth of Myka’s body against her own felt splendid.

She never remembered sleeping better than she had that night. 


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning Myka woke up warm and perhaps more comfortable than she been laying in bed since she had been a little kid. Helena’s arm was still wrapped around her middle, but instead of being pressed up against her back, Helena’s head was now resting in the crook of her neck. The author’s eyelashes tickled her skin lightly.

Myka sighed happily. If she had known that it would be this good she would have made the decision so much earlier. The fear was still there, there was no avoiding it, but something inside her that had been broken by the death of Sam had healed by a night in Helena’s arms. She could again see the good and the bad instead of just the bad. Myka hadn’t known just how far she had sunken into that mindset.

Below her Helena’s breathing changed becoming shallower. A deep breath later and the other woman’s eyelashes fluttered against her neck. She bit her lip to contain a giggle. Well, it seemed she was ticklish there.

“Mmm, good morning darling,” Helena mumbled into her hair, voice still heavy with sleep.

“Morning.” She kissed the top of Helena’s head.

“It is quite possible to never leave this bed? I find myself quite comfortable.”

Myka laughed quietly. “Me too, but I don’t think it’s possible, unless you want to explain to Artie why two days later we’re still lounging around in bed while college students disappear.”

“I suppose you do have a point, but it is a nice thought.”

She pulled back out of the embrace a little and kissed Helena quickly. “We’ll have time for that, and the sooner we figure out what artifact running loose at Stanford the sooner that time will be.”

Helena was out of her arms and digging through her bag an instant later. “Righty-ho then, let’s get going.”

Myka laughed again. “Eager beaver, aren’t we?”

“Eager beaver? Whatever do you mean? Why would a beaver be eager?”

Myka cocked an eyebrow. “I would’ve thought that saying would’ve been around even in your time. Apparently not. It basically just means what it sounds like, you’re eager. The beaver was just for the rhyme.”

Helena’s brow crinkled. “Americans and their impulse towards rhyme.” She shook her head.

“Oh, and British people avoid such things completely?”

“Well, no. But at least when we do rhyme we make sense.”

Myka shook her head in mock anger, corners of her mouth twitching. “Whatever you say, dear.”

She got up out of bed, grabbing her bag. She went for the zipper and frowned. She had forgotten that she had broken it last night. Myka bit her lip. How exactly was she going to open it now? Forget closing it. She sighed. Somehow she was going to have to find time to go buy a new one.

“Helena do you have any idea how to open a bag without a zipper?”

The author reached over her shoulder and slipped a finger into the gap the zipper had left, pulling up and opening her bag quite easily.

“Oh well, I guess I should have thought about that.”

“Nonsense, darling.” She kissed her forehead. “But you will most definitely need a new bag.”

“That, I did manage to figure out on my own.”

“I did always admire you for your brains.” Helena grinned like the Cheshire cat and slipped into the bathroom to take a shower.

 

An hour later they were headed towards Stanford. When she was fully focused on driving the Mini cooper wasn’t so bad she supposed, but she still missed her SUV back in South Dakota. She felt as if a semi was about to squish her at all times. Since there weren’t any semis around her at the moment, though, that was a little ridiculous.

“You really should teach me how to drive. Driving this thing doesn’t seem to do anything for your nerves,” Helena said after a few minutes on the highway.

“I’ll get around to it. Something tells me you wouldn’t have an issue with small cars.”

“Considering dodging coaches was something done on a daily basis in my day, no I don’t think I would either.”

“Crazy.”

“Yes, a little, but it was what was done.”

 

They arrived at Stanford half an hour later. Myka pulled into a parking space and looked over at Helena.

“So who exactly does the file say has disappeared?” She had read the file, but she hadn’t really absorbed the information in her over emotional state.

“Daniel Oberlin, Chelsea Row, and Maria Hernandez.”

“And am I right in assuming the file has no idea what the link between them is?”

“That you are.”

“Well then, let’s go find out where they live. Maybe we’ll find something there.”

 

Myka walked over to the administration building, arm in arm with Helena. The day was just cool enough to be pleasant. She felt herself smiling for absolutely no reason. She couldn’t remember the last time that that had happened.

Once they were inside the administration building, Myka flashed her badge at the secretary and told her they were here to investigate the student disappearances. The woman gave her the “What does that have to do with the Secret Service” look that everyone gave her on Warehouse missions, but gave Myka the information she needed.

She walked back outside with a map of campus, the dorms they needed to go to highlighted. “So much for a common living area. They live all in different dorms, that aren’t near each other. They aren’t even the same year. One’s a freshman, one’s a senior, and the other is a junior.”

“Perhaps they might be taking the same class?”

“I highly doubt a freshman would be taking a senior level course. Not like it isn’t possible…” Myka thought for second. “They could be taking a class from the same professor though. But that might not even be it. This campus is so big it could be a thousand things.” Normally she enjoyed the puzzle of cases, now she just wanted this over and done so she could go home and be with Helena.

“Well then, I suppose we should get on that.”

 

They arrived at Wilbur Hall a few minutes later.

“Let’s see, Chelsea Row lived on the second floor in room 237 with Victoria Domingo,” Myka read off her paper.

Helena walked over to the stairs. “Shall we?”

Myka walked through the door and started climbing. She heard Helena chuckle softly from behind her. Myka turned around.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing, just realizing how much I liked the view from down here.” Helena smiled devilishly.

Myka blushed, turned around, finished walking up the stairs as fast as her dignity would allow her.

 

Myka knocked on the door labeled 237, hoping that Victoria didn’t have a class just then. Trekking back and forth over a campus this big didn’t have much appeal. She heard a chair push back inside and the door opened a second later. 

A short, dark haired girl was revealed. “Yes?”

“Hi, Victoria?” Myka asked.

“Yeah…”

“ I’m Myka Bering and this is Helena Wells. We’re with the Secret Service. We’re here to talk about your roommate Chelsea. Do you have a second?”

“Sure.” The girl stepped back, allowing them into the room.

Helena walked around the room looking over the vanished girls things while Myka continued questioning the roommate.

“When was the last time that you saw Chelsea?”

“About a week ago. For a couple of days I really didn’t worry. It was the weekend, sometimes Chelsea just goes out and doesn’t come back til Sunday night. She works crazy hard during the week and they goes crazy hard on the weekends partying. She makes me look like a first timer when we’re together at a party, and I can hold my alcohol. Uh, not that I ever drink.”

“We really don’t care that you drink. It’s college. We’re just here about your roommate,” Myka reassured her.

“Oh, well, yeah, so I didn’t think anything was wrong until Monday morning when I woke up and she still wasn’t back yet. After that I told the campus police she was gone and they came and asked a bunch of questions and looked through her stuff and what not. Why did they call the Secret Service into this? Isn’t this more the domain of the FBI?”

Myka never could come up with a good lie. “Uh.” She froze.

“Interagency cooperation,” Helena smoothly replied.

“Yes, they’ve been stretched pretty tightly. We’re here as a favor,” Myka continued.

“Oh, ok.”

“Anyway, did you roommate come into contact with anything weird right before disappearing. Maybe something old, out of place?”

The girl shrugged. “I don’t know. We weren’t best friends or anything. We went out together sometimes, but that was about it. I really didn’t know everything about her. I hope you guys find her.”

“Do you know where she was going right before she disappeared?”

“Physics 101. It’s the only class she has on Fridays.”

Myka pursed her lips. She didn’t think there was anything else useful to be gained from the girl.

“Well thank you for talking with us.” Myka fished a card out of her pocket and handed it to the girl. “Call us if you remember anything you think could be important.”

“I will,” the girl said nodding.

 

Once again outside and walking towards the next dorm, Myka turned to Helena. “Did you notice anything out of place on Chelsea’s side of the room?”

“No, it appeared as a normal student’s room. I saw nothing that could be linked to an artifact.”

“Well, hopefully this next interview gives us something to go on.”

“One does hope.”

 

The next dorm they arrived at was Roble Hall. Myka looked up the ivy covered walls. This dorm looked a lot like the one she had spent her freshman year of college in. The corners of her mouth tugged up slightly. That had been quite an interesting year.

“Ok, Daniel Oberlin lived in room 314 with Grant Chang, Mohammed Said, and David Schmitt.”

Helena held the door open. “After you milady.”

Myka smiled brilliantly.  Amazing how such small gestures could make her so happy. She had forgotten this part of being loved in all the hurt and fear, forgotten that little things could be so big. In the end it was the taking away of the little things that hurt the most, not the big things. The casual touches, the sweet everyday gestures, waking up in the other’s arms, they meant more than the big nights out, the gifts, and everything else.

Helena came through the door behind her. Myka grabbed her hand and just smiled at her. She hoped the smile contained everything that she couldn’t say aloud. From the look of unguarded love that Helena gave her, she thought that she had been successful. Myka brought Helena’s hand up to her mouth and lightly pressed her lips to the back of it.

Helena brushed a piece of hair from Myka’s face with her free hand, letting her hand rest on Myka’s cheek after the offending piece of hair was dealt with. Myka leaned into it. Helena’s hands were so warm and soft.

Myka blinked. This wasn’t really the time or place for this. She just got so wrapped up in Helena it was hard to keep everything focused sometimes.

“What do you say we go interview some more college students?” Myka asked, ending the moment.

“Why, yes that sounds like quite a lot of fun,” Helena replied wryly. “Oh, but I don’t drink, even though I just said I did,” she said in the most ridiculous American accent Myka had ever heard.

She snorted. “Yeah, well no one ever said college students had much common sense.”

“I’d pity the person who did.”

 

A few minutes later they stood outside room 314. Myka had already knocked once, to no answer. She knocked again just to make sure. Another few minutes passed without a sound.

Myka sighed in defeat and leaned against the wall next to the door. “Well, they’re obviously not home. Want to wander to the next dorm and come back here later?”

Helena frowned. “I do believe I have a better idea.” She pulled a lock picking kit from God knew where.

Myka bit her lip. Normally she would just go and ask someone in charge of the building to unlock the door for them…but Helena picking the lock was faster. And faster meant that maybe they could get back home sometime soon.

“Ok, that works,” Myka agreed after a few seconds hesitation.

Helena set to work on the lock and had it open less than thirty seconds later.

“It’s scary how good you are at that.” Myka walked into the room.

“Yes, well, let’s just say you’ll never be able to keep me out.”

The room was a pig sty. Clothes were all over the floor, notes and books covered the desk, and Myka was pretty sure there was old pizza somewhere in the room from the smell. Her nose crinkled at the scent.

“Well, I think it’s safe to say four college boys live here.”

“Indeed.” Helena walked around, lifting and moving things around to get a better look at everything.

Myka shuffled through things on the other side of the room. She pulled a textbook from the bottom of the stack and raised her eyebrows. Physics, that could be a connection, though honestly how many people did take physics in college?

“Helena, is this the textbook that you found in Chelsea’s room?”

Helena turned and looked at it, considering a second before answering, “No, that was basic physics. That one is a textbook about quantum mechanics.” Helena’s face twisted into a look of confusion. “What the devil is quantum mechanics?”

“It has to do with the movement of tiny subatomic particles. They don’t hold to Newtonian physics in their motion. The discipline was founded in the 1930s off of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.”

Helena shook her head. “One hundred years and science has advanced so far. I’m afraid I am woefully behind the times. Perhaps if we ever get a break from inventory I shall rectify that.”

Myka laughed. “A break from inventory? Not likely.” Myka grew serious again. “Have you seen anything else that could link Chelsea and Daniel?”

“Not in the slightest. From what I saw from Chelsea’s desk it seems she has every interest of becoming an Engineer, I see nothing of the sort to suggest the same of Daniel. If anything, I’d guess a physics major with a textbook like that on his desk. They don’t have any similar take out menus. Chelsea’s desk was neat enough to suggest she does most of her studying in the library or elsewhere, Daniel’s desk is anything but neat. They live far enough apart on campus it wouldn’t make sense for them eat in the same dining halls. They seem like totally opposite people whose lives do not have much intersect at all. Honestly, I have no idea what links them.”

“Me either.” Myka put the book back down on the desk. “Maybe interviewing the next person will give us something.”

“Or at least we shall hope.”

 

The buildings of Governor’s Corner were spread out, with wide expanses of green in-between them. Students were flopped out all over the grass with books in front of them or surrounded by friends. Myka and Helena walked over to Potter House and walked up to the second floor.

Carly Hansen opened the door just as Myka was about to knock. The girl jerked back, visibly startled.

“Uh, hi. Can whatever this is wait? I have class in five minutes. As it is I’m going to have to sprint.”

Myka flashed her badge. “I’m Agent Myka Bering and this is Helena Wells. We’re here to ask you a few questions about your roommate.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “Look, I’ve already told you guys everything I know about the disappearance. It’s lovely that University Police are doing such a thorough job, but seriously. I have to get to class.”

She moved to push past them.

Helena stepped in front of the girl and smiled. “It won’t take more than a few minutes. Being a few minutes late for lecture won’t hurt too much, would they?”

“Well, I guess, but it’s chem, guys, come on. I need as much help in that class as I can get.”

“The sooner we get started the sooner you’re on your way,” Helena continued, British accent coating the words like honey.

“Fine, what do you want to know? The last time I saw her? When she was going to physics lecture on Monday. As far as I know she didn’t have anyone she would’ve run off with, she loved it here on campus, she would never just up and leave. I reported her missing the next day when she didn’t come home and I hadn’t gotten a text message from her. Ok?”

Myka felt the corners of her mouth pulling down. Had she been anything like this in college? God, she hoped not. “Did your roommate come into contact with anything strange, out of place, or old before she disappeared?”

The girl gave her a look like she was the stupidest person on earth. “I don’t know. Why the hell would that matter?” 

Myka pulled out a card. “Well if you can think of anything else that might be important, just give me a call.”

Helena stepped out of the girl’s way. “Have a nice time in class.”

The girl rolled her eyes, walked out of her room, shut the door, and sprinted down the hall.

After the girl was out of earshot Helena muttered, “Pleasant, wasn’t she.”

“Downright enjoyable.”

Helena snorted. It was the most elegant snort Myka had ever heard.

 

Back outside, the two of them wandered around campus.

“Well I guess physics is the only thing that we really have to go on. All three of them were in physics, but different kinds of physics probably.” Myka twirled a piece of hair around her finger as she thought.

“It bears checking out since we have no other leads. Do the lectures have a common classroom?” Helena asked.

“It seems so, there’s a lecture hall strictly for physics lectures.”

“Well then, away we go.”

 


	12. Chapter 12

The walk to the physics lecture hall took the better part of fifteen minutes. Helena could see that students who lived on campus definitely got their exercise. As for her, her feet hurt immensely from all the walking. The boots she had chosen to wear that day hadn’t exactly been the most practical thing in the world, but they made her look fabulous. And since impressing Myka had been at the top of her to do list that morning, the boots had won out over more sensible choices.

A hand grabbed hers, pulling her from her bubble of self-pity. Helena looked over. Myka’s face was still forward, watching the students scurry back and forth around them. The woman was breathtakingly beautiful and she was all hers. Finally.

Helena squeezed Myka’s hand gently. Even though today had not been how Helena would’ve preferred the day to go, she couldn’t imagine doing anything else right now. Though, hopefully, they were on their way to finding whatever artifact was causing the disturbance and they would neutralize it and then soon be home to execute her more…nefarious plans for Myka Bering.

 

As luck would have it they walked into the lecture hall in the few minutes before the next class started. Myka went to talk to the professor while Helena looked about the room for possible artifacts. Nothing really stood out to her. It looked much like the lecture halls Helena had sat in during her own school days. Nice to know that some things didn’t change.

After a few minutes, though, Helena did notice something a little strange. A few students had gotten up and walked behind the professor’s desk, opened the top drawer, grabbed what looked to be a pen, and sat back down. Odd, weren’t students supposed to bring their own writing utensils to class? Odder still, that they were allowed into a professor’s desk.

Helena walked forward to stand beside Myka, still talking to the professor.

“Hello professor,” she said, interrupting him, and smiling the slightly seductive smile that melted all men.

The professor smiled back. “Hello, Miss?”

“Wells.”

“Ah Miss Wells. I’m Professor De. Your partner was just asking me a few questions about students of the physics department.”

“Yes, it seems all the disappeared students all take physics oddly enough.” She stopped and nodded towards another student who was grabbing a pen out from the drawer. “What’s that all about? I thought students were responsible for their own supplies.”

“Ah, a professor here years ago started the tradition. Brilliant man, but always forgetting his pens everywhere. He set up a drawer of pens for himself and the students to borrow from. It’s continued ever since. The students are very good about returning the pens, oddly enough. I don’t think we’ve had to replace the pens in there, ever.” He shrugged.

Helena and Myka exchanged a glance. Perhaps this was where their artifact resided. They broke of the conversation with the professor as quickly as was polite and walked over to the pen drawer, pulling on their purple gloves. They opened the drawer together. Myka shuffled the pen around for a few seconds before they both of them saw it, an old fancy ball point pen.

Both their hands touched it at the same time.

Helena felt a strange sensation wash over her. Her head spun, her legs wobbled. What was going on? She was wearing her artifact gloves, the artifact shouldn’t be able to activate, so what was happening?

She looked up at Myka. Myka had her hand to her head, her face tightly drawn. It seemed that she was experiencing much the same symptoms as Helena.

The author reached up and took the artifact bag from Myka, opening it and shoving it in. Instead of the normal sparks, nothing happened. Helena’s stomach sunk to the ground. This couldn’t be good.

“Myka,” she said, voice shaky.

“What?” The other woman asked, opening her eyes.

“It didn’t spark.”

She shrugged. “Maybe it isn’t the artifact?”

“And what exactly would you call this sudden illness that seems to have overcome both of us after touching that pen? Coincidence? Myka, I think we’ve been over that no such thing exists at the Warehouse.”

Myka bit her lip. “We’ll take it with us just in case, but we should keep investigating just to be safe.”

Helena scowled but nodded her ascent.

They exited the lecture hall and walked back onto the campus. Helena felt worse and worse. Beside her Myka had started to lean more heavily on her shoulder. She led them to a bench and sat them both down.

“Myka, something is happening.” Helena leaned back against the bench.

“Ok, so maybe something is. We had our gloves on; this shouldn’t be the artifact, if the pen was the artifact at all.”

Helena brought her head up and just looked levelly at Myka. “Do you have another suggestion for what this could be?”

“Maybe we should call Artie…” Myka trailed off.

Helena dug out the Farnsworth and handed it to Myka. The agent pressed the call button and leaned her head against Helena’s shoulder. A second later Artie’s face filled the screen.

“What?” He asked in his typical short manner.

“Artie, I think we might have found the artifact, but-” Myka’s voice broke in the middle of the sentence.

“But what?” The older man scowled.

“But we think the artifact might have activated even though we were wearing the purple gloves,” Helena finished for Myka.

“Nonsense, that doesn’t happen and even if it did, you should be fine if you put it in the containment bag.”

Helena weakly raised an eyebrow. “What about the time Steve was burned through the gloves by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory door knob? And Artie, do you think that wasn’t the first thing we did? The bag didn’t give off any sparks.”

Artie sputtered for a few seconds before falling silent. “Alright, what’s happening?”

“Myka and I got suddenly sick when we touched this pen.” She held it up to the screen. “Myka seems to be getting worse faster than I am, as well.”

“Whose pen is it?”

“If I had known that Artie I would’ve told you.  All I know is that we found it in a community pen drawer in the physics lecture hall at Stanford that all three of the students who disappeared attended.” Helena’s patience was wearing thin.

“Alright, alright.” He typed something into the computer and hit enter.

A sharp pain went through Helena. The Farnsworth dropped from her hand. Beside her Myka jerked up.

“Helena,” Myka’s voice was very scared. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.”

Another pain shot through her and then everything went black.

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

When Myka opened her eyes again she was in a very different place than Stanford’s campus. A very familiar place actually. She was in the Warehouse. She glanced around, in what looked like the Ovoid Quarantine. What was she doing here? No one had gone anywhere near here since Syke’s attack.

Slowly the rest of the surroundings filtered in. Pete and Artie were beside her, talking hurriedly and working on something. Helena was across the room fiddling with the control box on the wall. Myka turned around and looked at what Pete and Artie were fiddling with.

Myka’s stomach sunk to the floor. The House of Commons bomb was sitting on the table. Oh god, they had four minutes to run and get Gandhi’s dhoti. Myka opened her mouth to speak, to yell, to do anything to get the other’s attention, but found she couldn’t. Her voice was stuck in her throat and she felt frozen.

What was going on? Was this another dream? She thought these would’ve ended when she finally admitted her feelings for Helena. Then again, after that whammy from the pen maybe it shouldn’t really a surprise. Her body had gone haywire after touching it. Maybe her mind was feeling its effects too.

She calmly watched the seconds on the bomb tick down. She would be awake as soon as the timer ran out. She would be fine then. She just had to wait, live through the phantom pain of fire one more time, and she would be fine.

A purple bubbled surrounded her. What was going on? This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. She was the one who initiated the bubble. Since she was frozen there wasn’t supposed to be a bubble. Why was there a bubble?

She looked over at where she had been standing in her dream when she had made the bubbled around Helena, Artie, and Pete. Helena was standing where she was supposed to be, smiling sadly.

She said the words Myka was supposed to say. “It was the only way I could think to save you.”

She felt herself speaking the words Helena was supposed to respond with. “But you’re out there.”

“It had to be initiated from outside the barrier.” The look she gave Myka was so full of love it hurt.

Pete and Artie exploded around her, saying there was another way, some way to save the other woman, but Myka barely heard it. She was so focused on Helena. Her heart swelled when she saw the other woman mouth “I love you.” She had never doubted that she had.

“I smell apples.” The joy on Helena’s face was too much for Myka. She looked down. She knew what was coming next and she didn’t want to watch.

She heard the bomb go off, heard metal shriek, things tearing apart. Just hearing it was too much. She wanted out. She wanted to be in the fire. If she was out there the dream would’ve ended by now, but no, she was stuck in here listening to it all.

And suddenly it was all over. The sounds stopped, replaced by deadly silence. Myka didn’t want to look up. She thought somehow that just standing there with her eyes closed would send her back into consciousness. Or at least she prayed it would.

She heard Pete and Artie gasp as they looked around at the destruction. Still Myka didn’t look up. She didn’t want to see. She never wanted to see. How could her mind come up with something so horrible? Surely she would wake up any time now.

She felt Pete’s hands on her shoulders. “Mykes?” he said questioningly. “Are you ok?”

She nodded, keeping her head down and eyes closed. “I’m fine, Pete.”

“Mykes, look at me.”

Myka swallowed and looked up at Pete reluctantly. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry she’s gone. I know I wasn’t really nice to her this last year, but in the end she was so much better than I ever gave her credit for.”

“Pete, what are you saying, this is just a dream. I mean, yeah, it’s a little different than the one I’ve been having, but it’s still a dream. We saved the Warehouse weeks ago, Pete. Helena’s fine. We were just at Stanford a little bit ago. I’m sure I’m going to wake up on that park bench in the California sun any second now.”

Pete looked at her like she had gone insane. “Mykes what are you talking about? We didn’t save the Warehouse.” He stepped to the side and let Myka take in the view.

Fire burned all around her. Pieces of steel stuck from the ground at odd angles. Ash rained down from the sky. The only thing intact was the little circle of floor beneath Myka’s feet. No, this couldn’t be true. This was just that stupid pen messing with her mind. She was just on a park bench in Stanford. She. Was. On. A. Park. Bench. She wasn’t here. She wouldn’t ever have to be here again if she would just WAKE UP!

She shook her head. “No, no it’s not real. It’s just the pen messing with my mind Pete. I got whammied before I fell asleep. That’s all.”

Pete’s hands were on her shoulders again, shaking her a little more roughly this time. “Myka! This isn’t a joke. You aren’t at Stanford. The only thing that got whammied was the Warehouse and Helena along with it!”

Myka took a step back. “No! You don’t understand Pete. You just don’t understand. Why does it even matter if you understand? You’re part of this stupid dream. All I want is to WAKE UP! WHY AM I NOT AWAKE YET?!” Every fiber of her being just wanted this to end.

Pete shook his head and wrapped her in a hug. “Mykes, I know it’s hard to accept, but please stop. This is scaring me. You’re the strongest person I know. If you’re going to have a psychotic break over this I don’t know what the rest of us are going to do.”

“I’m not having a psychotic break, Pete. I’m not. All of this isn’t real. It can’t be. It just can’t. I love Helena. I just admitted that to her the other day in a hotel in San Francisco. I spent last night wrapped in her arms. I spent the day walking around Stanford investigating a case where three college students disappeared. We figured out that all of them had class in the physics lecture hall and that they all had borrowed a pen from this communal pen drawer. And then we found the pen that was causing it, but it whammied us through our gloves and then we both got really sick and apparently passed out. That’s all this is. A fever dream.”

Pete just hugged her harder and started to stroke her hair.

Myka swallowed. It had to be a dream. It all had to. Right?

 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys who have been reading so far, and uber thanks to those who have left kudos and commented.

God her neck hurt! That was the first thing she realized as she woke up. Dear Lord, what had she done to it? Oh, right fell asleep on a bench in the middle of a college campus, that had probably done her no favors. She supposed moving the rest of her body would be even more painful. Hopefully, Myka wasn’t in such bad shape. If she was they would be a sight walking back to the car.

Her eyes fluttered open. She wasn’t at Stanford anymore. Her senses went on high alert, muscles tensing, ready to strike, her body falling into kempo’s ready position easily.

How had she gotten here? Where was here? She glanced around and saw Artie and Pete, and off on the other side of the room, Myka. Myka? What was she doing up and around? Maybe she had woken up before her.

Helena looked down at herself. She was standing…How had she been asleep if she was standing?

Helena’s mind whirred, not thinking fast enough for Helena’s liking. The pieces weren’t quite fitting. She knew they would if only she could _think_.

Things snapped into sudden clarity. She had seen this before, from two different perspectives, but it was mostly the same. She was in the Ovoid Quarantine. There was the House of Commons bomb on the table in front of Artie and Pete, who were trying in vain to disable it. Myka was fiddling with the same switches that she had used to reroute the Ramati Shackle’s shield to surround the small group.

This was her dream, but in reverse almost. Helena cocked her head to the side. Why was she having this dream again? Had the pen induced it? Did it bring about the person’s worst fears in dream form?

Best not to chance anything. She reached out to help Pete and Artie, nicking her finger a sharp edge of metal exposed by their tinkering.

“Bugger all,” she muttered under her breath. She didn’t remember sustaining any damage to her finger before she fell asleep. This wasn’t pain transmuting from real life to dream.

Helena swallowed hard and reached up to her neck. The rope burns that had faded days ago were there. All right then, but dreams could do that, make you feel things that weren’t there. They had every night for weeks.

But those dreams had never felt this real, even the flames at the end that left her tingling. No, this felt like something else entirely, a feeling Helena was familiar with as well. Something that could be catastrophic.

As many times as she had traveled in time to try in vain to save Christina she was most familiar with the feel of time travel. It wasn’t something one noticed if they only traveled to the past once, even several times. It was something she had only noticed after dozen of failed attempts to stop her daughter’s murder.

But her time machine wasn’t active. It couldn’t be. They were on Stanford’s campus right before they had traveled, the time machine was back at the Warehouse. There was no way this could be her invention…and if not it had to be the pen’s doing.

Helena bit the inside of her lip. And this wasn’t the normal past either. This was some sort of different stream of time where they didn’t save the Warehouse.

She closed her eyes. Nothing was ever coincidence in the Warehouse, not even dreams. How she wished she was wrong. Here was Myka’s dream playing out in front of her at this very instant.

But she could change it. She knew how to save them. Gandhi’s dhoti. It was just a few aisles away. She glanced at the timer. There was still ample time to retrieve it.

She moved to take a step in that direction, but found she couldn’t move. She tried to move again to the same result. Speaking was just a futile. It seemed that trying to change this situation was not allowed.

Helena just couldn’t stand for that. There had to be some way around it. There was a way around everything, Victorian era women’s standards, physical time travel, a normal human lifespan, everything. Helena just had to think about it.

She thought about everything, tried everything that came to mind, and she would’ve kept going, but for the barrier of the Ramati Shackle coming up around her. Her eyes went wide. Myka.

She turned to the woman, dark eyes boring into green. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Helena was supposed to save Myka. Not the other way around. She didn’t give a damn that this was playing out how it had in Myka’s dream. She was here. She should’ve saved the woman she loved. Again.

But it was too late now. She wanted to scream at Myka. Tell her to take the barrier down, allow her out to die at her side. Scream there was no way she would live without the woman. But instead she felt her mouth moving in words that were already scripted.

“Myka, what are you doing?”

Myka smiled, tears in her scared green eyes. “It was the only way I could think to save you.”

“But you’re out there.” She felt like a marionette controlled by some cruel puppet master.

“It had to be initiated from outside the barrier.” Myka looked at Helena as Artie and Pete screamed and raged at Myka, saying there was another way. In this reality, there wasn’t. This was how it had to be.

Helena’s nails bit into her palms.

Myka’s gaze morphed from scared to loving. Helena knew what had just gone through her mind. She had accepted that she was about to die, and she was happy that she had at least managed to save Helena in the process. Myka smiled again, this time radiantly.

“I love you,” she mouthed.

The bomb ticked towards its final seconds. Helena tried to throw herself at the barrier, but couldn’t. She was still not under her own control.

“I smell apples.” Myka closed her eyes.

The bomb went off a second later. Helena hit the side of the barrier, fists beating the protective walls.

“NO!” she screamed. She was under her own control now, but it was too late. It was done.

She slumped to the floor. The Warehouse burned around her, but she had ceased to care. The only thing that had mattered to her had already gone up in flames.


	15. Chapter 15

Myka woke up in her bed in the B&B. She smiled and rolled over, reaching out for Helena.

Helena…

It hit her like a ton of bricks. Helena was gone. The Warehouse was gone. Everything was gone.

A sob wracked her. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t. This wasn’t a dream. Even her worst nightmares would have ended long ago. This was reality, cold, hard, bitter reality.

But there was some hope. What about the memories of Stanford? She refused to think of them as dreams. She there was no way she could. It was all she had left, that and Helena’s locket. The metal pressed against her skin.

She could figure out something to make everything right again. She would…but not right now. Everything was too much right now. All she wanted to do was sleep. She turned over and fell back asleep, dreaming of Helena and a world full of ash.

 

Later that day Pete managed to coax her downstairs to eat something. The atmosphere in the dining room wasn’t much better than it had been up in her room. Claudia stared blankly ahead, fork moving automatically up and down. Leena looked like she was trying to hold it together as best she could, but her best still looked like she was about to fall apart if someone so much as blew on her. Artie was slowly fingering a pocket watch that Myka had never seen before. She didn’t care enough to ask about it. And Pete sat in the middle trying to strike up conversation, trying to lighten the mood, but no one was having any of it. Eventually he went silent.

Everyone dispersed after the meal. Myka stayed to help Leena clean up, more for a distraction than anything else. The innkeeper didn’t say anything as Myka helped her carry dirty plates into the kitchen, just smiled shakily.

It was ironic how similar this was to the other day when she had cooked with Leena to avoid confronting her feelings about Helena. What she would give right now for that to be her biggest problem. Tears slipped down her cheeks.

What if everything at Stanford was just her mind trying to give her false hope? What if it was the dream, since this world clearly was not? What if she had never actually confessed her feelings for Helena? What if she had let her die without letting her know that she indeed loved her too?

The thoughts made the tears fall harder. If that was the case then how could she live with herself? How could she live without the one person who knew her best?

She didn’t have any answer.

The dishes were finished too soon and Myka drifted off, having no idea what to do with herself. What was there to do now that the Warehouse was gone? There was no work, no America’s attic, no endless wonder. What was there anymore? Myka closed her eyes. All she saw were ashes.

Somehow her legs carried her to the library. Was it really the only the other day the two of them had sat here reading together? It seemed like so much longer. God knew if that memory was even real. Myka felt her sanity slipping inch by inch. With no idea what was real, what to believe, or what she wanted to believe, there was nothing to latch onto but the fact that all she wanted was to have Helena back in her arms. And down that path, at least right at this instant, lay madness. She couldn’t ever have Helena again. She had really only had her once. If she ever had.

Myka closed her eyes, head spinning. This was so, so complicated. She couldn’t handle it.

She grabbed the first book off of the table and started reading. She needed to be anywhere but in this reality at the moment. Books would help her out in that respect nicely.

Minutes or hours later Artie came in, looking a little bit more alive that he had been before. “Come on, everyone’s in the dining room.”

Myka glanced up at him and then back down to the book. “What’s the point?”

“I think I have an idea to save the Warehouse.”

Myka shut her book quickly, spark of hope flaring to life again. If the Warehouse was saved, Helena might be saved as well. She rushed to the dining room and sat down on her usual chair, almost falling off in her haste.

Artie gave her a weird look as he sat down as well. He took the pocket watch he had been messing with at dinner. Everyone else looked on expectantly. Myka was practically bouncing up and down in her seat. Artie sat there staring at the pocket watch for a few seconds more. Myka wished he would just get on with it. Every second they wasted was one more than Helena could be back in her arms.

“This pocket watch was left to me by James Macpherson,” Artie said finally.

“Wait, the guy who was selling artifacts and let Lady Cuckoo out of the bronze sector?” Pete winced a second after finishing his sentence. “I mean Helena.” He looked apologetically over at Myka.

Myka was too involved in staring at the pocket watch to really take offence. What could that little pocket watch do that could save the Warehouse?

“Yes, and my former partner. Nice to know you have a long term memory.” Artie rolled his eyes and went on. “Macpherson always told me that the watch would help save the Warehouse in a time of great peril. I think this might just count.”

Everyone around the table nodded in agreement.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to get it to work and a few minutes ago, I figured it out.”

“So how does it work?” Myka asked. Getting to the meat of things didn’t seem to be anyone’s main priority right then.

Artie opened the watch and gently removed the face, revealing another face with a thin red arrow on it.

“I was trying to take apart the watch to see if I could figure out how it worked when I found this. It seems to almost act as a compass.” He turned it around and around to demonstrate. The arrow always pointed the same way, a little to the left of Myka.

“So what?” Claudia asked. “We follow the watch wherever it wants to lead us and then?”

“I would think that’s something to figure out when we get there.”

“What if this isn’t leading us to anything that can save the Warehouse though? Then aren’t we just wasting our time? Couldn’t we be doing something more important?” Her eyes flicked over to the metronome. Since the Warehouse had been destroyed it had stayed in the dining room for lack of a better place.

“As of now, Claudia, I don’t see we have much other choice. Unless you have a plan to save the Warehouse squirreled away somewhere that the rest of us don’t know about?”

Claudia scowled. “Well no, but, as I believe they said back in your day, is it really wise to put all our eggs in one basket? That’s what I’m trying to get at, ok oh great wise one?”

Artie sighed. “All right, fine. If you want to stay here while the rest of us follow the pocket watch, so be it, but you will be doing research on a backup plan since you seem to be so worried about the pocket watch not working. Got it?”

Claudia considered for a second. “Alright.”

“The rest of you, get packed. I’m hoping whatever we need is near, but I have no idea where whatever this is leading us to is, so best be prepared.”

With that Artie got up and walked from the dining room.

Myka shot up after him. There was a way to save Helena. It may all depend on a pocket watch compass, but there was a way to save Helena. Myka heart soared, the dream of Stanford almost forgotten for the moment. What did a fantasy matter when there was a real, tangible way to save the woman she loved?

She was packed and back downstairs in five minutes, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet while she waited for the others to come back down. She heard Claudia typing away furiously in the dining room and Leena pacing around in the living room. She felt the way the air flowed around her, the heat as the light from outside filtered in a window and landed on her shoulder. She felt more aware than she had in days. Myka sucked in a breath. She felt like her old hyper observant self. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Finally. She needed to be on her game for this mission. It was the most important one of her life.

 

 


	16. Chapter 16

Helena felt nothing, saw nothing, heard nothing. She existed in her own sort of limbo, her own sort of hell.  Everything she loved had been ripped away from her in the most painful way possible. She couldn’t take it anymore. Her brain had just shut down.

She supposed that Pete was probably trying to snap her out of it. Artie was probably yelling at her that it was all her fault that Myka was dead. Not that she could feel or hear any of it, not that she cared.

The landscape around her probably looked much like she felt, ashen and destroyed, twisted pieces of what used to be reaching towards the sky. She wished her eyes could see. The sight of the destroyed Warehouse might comfort her in a strange way.

Then again it would also remind her of what she had just lost. Better to stay in this oblivion, but not by much. It almost felt like being bronzed again. She wished she had been bronzed when the Warehouse exploded. Then this all would be over. She wouldn’t be suffering. She would be gone, to whatever else was beyond the mortal coil, if there was anything. Helena desperately hoped there was for Myka’s sake. It pained her to think of Myka being gone forever in all realms. Someone so vibrant and full of life couldn’t just be gone from the universe, could they?

They could. She knew it. Her own Christina had been the same way, loving and good, and she was gone, was she not?

Helena hated her own mind, hated the logical way it picked everything apart. For once she wished she could just be a creature of emotion, to be able to take comfort in thoughts of a world beyond the one which humans resided that was somehow better, a paradise like none she could imagine.

But she couldn’t. All she could see was ash and the space left by the woman she loved.

She wondered in the back of her mind whether she had the courage to join Myka beyond the veil. It certainly would be less painful. But unless something had changed over the last century in bronze, she knew she couldn’t. She had tried more than once after Christina had been taken from her. She had lost the courage to pull the trigger every time she placed the gun to her head. She had hated guns before; she had hated them more after. So lethal, so easy to kill another with a cold piece of steel, but it had failed to take her life when she most desperately needed it. Though now there were other things Helena could use to take her life, not just a gun. She thought it over, ending her life by a massive dose of prescription medicine, but her mind shrunk from even that.

She was a coward. And she had to live with it. Live without Myka.

What was she going to do then? She couldn’t return to bronze. She couldn’t kill herself. She certainly couldn’t stay anywhere near the Warehouse. Staying here would only keep open the wound of losing Myka.

She had to leave. But that would require feeling and the return of her senses. She wasn’t quite ready for that. She wasn’t sure she would ever be, but it did have to happen at some point, didn’t it? But that would come in its own time. Helena would not rush it. This oblivion was a treat she would not experience again.

Helena relaxed back into the grey fog of her mind. The fog embraced her like a lover. Her thoughts paused. Of course that would be the metaphor to describe it. Of course it would. Everything would remind her of Myka now she supposed. It would be exquisite torture. And eventually it would drive Helena mad.

She wasn’t sure she had a problem with that.

The fog slowly faded. Helena was at once glad it was gone and terribly sad. She blinked the last of the grey from her vision and looked out over the remains of the Warehouse.

It was just as much of a disaster zone as Helena had imagined. She felt the corners of her mouth turning up in what had to be quite the deranged smile. Fitting that something else in the world was feeling as much pain as she was.

She rose to her feet and walked out of the remains, glimpsing Artie and Pete trying to salvage what they could. Helena shook her head. The fools. Nothing here was worth saving.

She came to Myka’s SUV and chuckled softly. Myka had loved this vehicle, at least in comparison to the Mini Cooper they had been driving around San Francisco. Helena opened the door and slipped in. The keys were still in the ignition. She turned the key and the engine flared to life. Only then did it occur to her that she really didn’t know how to drive.

She shifted the car from park into drive as she had seen Myka do a thousand times. Now was as good as any to learn. She grabbed the wheel, and pushed on one of the pedals, getting lucky and finding the gas on the first try. She took a few loops around the large field around the Warehouse, accustoming herself to the car, before turning towards the B&B. She had one thing to take care of before she headed for the hills, literally and metaphorically.

She entered, slipping in soundless to avoid the innkeeper. She heard sobs coming from the dining room, two sets actually, but didn’t stop. She didn’t want to know. She had enough sadness to deal with.

Myka’s room was perfect. There was no denying it was her room. The attention to detail about every little thing screamed of the woman’s perfectionism. Helena closed her eyes, tears leaking out from behind her eyelids.

A few tears later, Helena wiped her eyes. She was here to accomplish a task and go. She had to remember that. She grabbed a bag from under Myka’s bed and started to shove anything and everything of Myka’s into it, her Farnsworth, clothes, photos, trinkets, anything that would fit. When the bag was full she zipped it up and slung it onto her shoulder. She had left very little, just a photo of Myka, Claudia, Pete, Leena, and Artie plus some of Myka’s clothing. She hoped the others could forgive her for being so selfish. Then again if they didn’t, she didn’t care so much.

She walked out the door of the B&B, certain she would never return.


	17. Chapter 17

They drove east.  Hours and hours passed. It reminded Myka of the drive from D.C. to the Warehouse when she first had been recruited. Except this time Pete and Artie were with her, making the drive easier and making it pass a little bit faster than it would have had she been alone. Still, though, the sense of anticipation was killing her.

They took turns driving as they made their way across the country. Myka tried to sleep while she wasn’t behind the wheel, but found it impossible. Her brain was going a million miles an hour, planning, trying to put all the details of the mission ahead of them together, trying to predict possible problems. Since she didn’t have too much to go on, her brain mostly went around in circles, but this time she didn’t feel frustrated. Helena could be in her arms soon. She didn’t think there was much in the world that could bring her down now.

Except if the plan didn’t work.

Her brain shoved that thought aside immediately. She had to hope for the best. She had to. Or else everything would fall apart again.

Finally, they came to the coast. Myka smelled the salt air before she ever saw the ocean. When the car crested the last hill and the vast blueness of the open ocean was revealed to them, Myka smiled. She couldn’t help but think that Helena would love this view.

They stopped a little while later at a hotel to regroup and assess what to do next. They were in a little town in Maine that Myka had never heard of. It was quaint, the typical small town, but obviously not what they needed.

“Well, seeing as the arrow is still pointing east we have two option, to sail east or to fly,” Artie said, sitting down at the small table in the room he had claimed as his own.

“Flying is faster, and what are the odds that whatever this pocket watch is supposed to find is in the middle of the ocean?” Myka paced the room, thinking, weighing the options and risks carefully.

Artie shrugged. “Stranger things have happened.”

Myka’s mind flashed back to the memories, dream, whatever, of Stanford. Stranger things had already happened.

“Alright, but flying will give us a quicker result than sailing will. It takes eight hours to cross the Atlantic in a plane, a week in a boat.”

Artie nodded. “Point taken, but then the question is where do we fly into?”

Myka picked up the watch that Artie had put on the table. She held it up, considering where the arrow pointed, considering where they were in Maine, and what exactly was across the Atlantic from them. There were a dozen options depending on just how far east the artifact was, but Myka had a strong feeling she knew which one of them to go to, almost like a vibe. But that was Pete’s thing, not hers. She shrugged; it couldn’t hurt to follow it.

“I think France would be our best bet. The south of it to be exact,” Myka finally said.

“How do you know?” Pete asked.

“Basic geography.”

“Right.” Pete drew out the word for several seconds.

“What, it’s obvious if you follow a world map.”

“Not all of us have the world map memorized.”

Myka opened her mouth to reply, but Artie interrupted her.

“Anyway, France sounds like a fine idea. Now if you two will leave me alone I’ll make the necessary plans to get us over there so we can continue searching.” Artie made a shooing motion with his hands.

“Ok then, see you tomorrow Artie,” Pete said walking out the door.

Myka lingered for a second longer, glancing back at Artie. He was holding the pocket watch, just staring at it, something he had been doing a lot during the trip. Myka had thought it was just to make sure they were going in the right direction, but now she wasn’t so sure.

“Are you alright, Artie?” Myka asked.

“Fine, fine.” He waved her off.

“Are you sure?” Her hand went to Helena’s locket around her neck. It hadn’t left her for longer than it took to take a shower since the Warehouse had blown up.

Artie glared over at her, but the look wasn’t as fearsome as normal. “I said I was fine, Myka. Go get some sleep. You’ve been up a day or more straight.” He slipped the pocket watch into his pocket and turned around to face the one window in the room. “I’ll book the flight and we’ll be off again tomorrow. We’ll save the Warehouse. We will.”

Myka cocked her head. Something more was going on, but she didn’t quite know what yet. She bit her lip, but decided it was best not to push Artie anymore that night.

“Alright Artie, goodnight.”

All she got was a grunt in reply as she walked out of the room.

 

Myka slept that night, but only fitfully. Helena kept invading her dreams, and it was obvious to her that the other woman wasn’t in a good state of mind. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she hurdled down the road in what looked to be Myka’s SUV. Even in the dream Myka scowled. What was Helena doing driving? She could hurt herself. And why was she crying?

One of Helena’s hands slipped to the locket around her neck. “Oh Myka,” she whispered. The hand on the steering wheel was gripping so hard the knuckles were white. “It should have been me.” A huge sob wracked the woman’s body.

Helena slowed the car down and pulled off to the side of the road. She curled her body around the steering wheel and let sob after sob shake her tiny frame.

Myka wanted to reach out, wanted to hold her, tell her everything was going to be fine, but in this dream she had no form. She was only able to watch from afar. It frustrated Myka beyond belief to be able to see Helena in her dreams, but have her in such a state, to not be able to comfort her.

“Helena.” Myka had spoken without realizing it. The corners of her mouth turned up. So she could speak in the dream, but not touch anything. She could deal with that.

“Helena!” she said, louder.

The author started to sob harder.

“Helena, honey, don’t cry. It’s going to be fine.”

Helena’s fist came down on the steering wheel, sending a honk into the night. “How can it be fine? God, I thought torturing myself while in bronze was bad enough, now it seems like my brain wants me to go completely nutters,” the woman muttered to herself. “I can’t hear Myka’s voice. Myka is dead. I should have saved her.”

“Helena, I’m not dead. I’m right here.”

Helena glanced over at the space where Myka was and laughed, bitterly.

“If only, darling, if only.” She sighed and turned back towards the steering wheel. “I suppose some rest might help this whole hearing things situation. But then again I might just be certifiably insane.” She snorted. “That would almost be a blessing.”

Myka tried to speak again, but found she couldn’t this time. She watched Helena drive in silence for a very long time until she opened her eyes and found herself back in her hotel room.

She sat up rubbed her hands over her eyes. Why was she having dreams like that? She should be having happy dreams about reuniting with Helena, not dreams of the other woman sobbing and driving in the night. This was like the nightmares about the Warehouse blowing up all over again.

That thought gave her pause. There was something niggling at the back of her brain, but she couldn’t quite get at it. She bit her lip and thought for a few more seconds, but nothing came to her. She shrugged and let it go. It would come to her when it was ready.

Myka got up and stretched. Today was going to be a long day. She hated international flights. They were long, tedious, and quite frankly she wasn’t a fan of being cooped up in such a small space for that amount of time. She supposed it might be a little better if they were traveling first class, but the Warehouse was still a government agency, in the vaguest sense, anyway. There was no money for such frivolous things. Not that that had stopped Helena from upgrading her seat to first class every time they were on an international flight, but not everyone was an author with a bank account full of one hundred years worth of royalties.

A smile ghosted across her face. She was sure that if Helena was here she would upgrade her seat for her, knowing how much she hated international travel. She sighed. That would happen soon enough. All that she had to get through was one flight. She could handle it.

She got up and went to take a shower. She stayed in much longer than she planned to, remembering back to the hotel stay in Stanford, replaying everything that happened, wishing that she had given into the Helena’s request to stay in bed for a little longer. Her mind wandered to other things that could’ve happened in that bed.

She felt herself blushing even redder than the hot water turned her skin. She knew if Helena could see her now she would be laughing, almost reading her mind. Myka rested her head against the wall. She wished that she was in San Francisco instead of Maine. She wished she knew if the things that happened there were actually memories, or just a dream. She wished a lot of things.

But those wishes didn’t matter. Or they wouldn’t matter soon enough. She had to keep reminding herself of that. Helena was just an airplane flight away…wasn’t she?

Myka shook her head. This wasn’t getting her anywhere. She finished her shower quickly and changed into a fresh outfit for the day. She met Artie and Pete downstairs and they loaded into the car, headed for Portland International Jetport.

 

 


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so note, I played with canon a little bit here. I’m fairly sure Christina was in Paris when she was killed, but for the sake of this story I needed her in Marseilles. Because geography. Would it have been easier to write about Paris, yes, since I’ve actually been there, but geography shot down my dreams.

Helena woke up abruptly, the last vestiges of a dream of Myka in the shower clinging to the edge of her mind. She groaned. Why was her mind torturing her like this? First with delusions of hearing Myka’s voice and now dreams of her in the shower. What was next? She didn’t think she could take much more and stay sane. That was, if she still was sane for that matter.

Her hand traveled to the other side of the bed and rested on her bag of Myka’s things. She felt safer knowing it was there, felt safer knowing there was still something tangible left of Myka in this world. Her fingers stroked over the fabric as she stared at the golden rays of sun on the wall.

It was most assuredly afternoon now, but that didn’t surprise her. She hadn’t checked in until five a.m. She was somewhere in Illinois, not that it really mattered to her. What was she supposed to do with that information? No place she could ever go would have what she really wanted.

She sighed and closed her eyes. So what exactly was there to do next? She had the funds to travel indefinitely; she had enough money to do whatever she pleased really. Helena was thankful that one hundred years of royalties and interest had left her with scads more money that she would ever know what to do with. It came in handy sometimes. Okay all the time if she was being honest.

She bit her lip. She supposed she could go home to England for a while. She hadn’t really had time to appreciate how much her mother country had changed while she was there getting the impreceptor vest.

She scowled. That had been the first time she had met Myka. Forever destined to meet at gun point. What she would give to have that gun pointed at her again.

She smiled as she remembered that day. There had been a spark between her and Myka even then, though she wasn’t sure Myka had been aware of it. Helena hated guns, hated the violence they could cause, but in Myka’s hands she saw no harm in the weapon. She knew the other woman wouldn’t harm her. A strange feeling to have staring down the muzzle of a gun, certainly, but it had been there all the same. Finally she had met another woman that was a force to be reckoned with, a force equal to her own, she could just feel it. She had been smitten ever since.

Of all the mistakes she had ever made, betraying that love for the Minoan Trident to try and end her pain. The pain she felt now was even worse, now Myka _and_ Christina had been taken away from her, but she owed Myka too much to even consider another stunt like that. She would suffer on in her own way until death saw fit to take her to the two people she loved most.

If death did such things…

Helena got up and opened the curtains, letting in the dying light of day. Christina. It had been a while since she had really, really thought about her daughter. She missed her every day, but the distractions of the Warehouse had kept her mind busy enough to keep it at a gentle tug on her heart, not the gut wrenching pain it had been while she was bronzed. She opened her locket and looked down and the picture of a little girl with raven black hair, just like her mother.

She knew where she would go; somewhere she hadn’t dared set foot in since the debacle with the time machine. She picked up the phone and dialed the number for the nearest international airport.

“Hello,” a pleasant female voice answered after a few rings.

“Hello, I’d like to reserve the next available seat on a flight to Paris.”

The woman was infinitely helpful. Helena’s recent travel arrangements had either been done for her or had been through the Warehouse. She had no real idea of how one went about reserving a ticket on an airplane, but soon enough it was done. She gathered up her things, and the bag the contained all of Myka’s, cradling it gently.

She checked out a few minutes later and drove in the hour silence to O’Hare airport. She almost wished that Myka’s voice called out to her like it had done the night before, but there was no such luck. Perhaps she wasn’t going insane after all. Helena felt a little sad at the prospect. If going insane meant hearing Myka’s voice, then she would gladly go down the path of madness. Perhaps all she needed to do was wait. With all of the grief pent up inside of her it was only a matter of time until madness had its clutches on her again.

 

The flight was uneventful. Helena didn’t get her normal thrill at the prospect of soaring through the air. She just stared ahead and watched the images of the movie silently flash by, not really feeling anything. She supposed that was better than feeling the pain she had felt before.

She remembered this numb feeling. It was a respite between the times of intense pain. She used to value this time. It was so rare and allowed her to at least act like a normal human being, even if she didn’t quite feel like one. It kept her friends and family from butting in and trying to “help” her.

She didn’t really have to worry about that now. She really didn’t have any friends or family to speak of. At least there was one upside to that.

 

Ten hours later and she was in Paris. The sound of French around her was odd, but despite her rusty, slightly outdated French, she understood most of what was going on. She thanked her lucky stars that French was something that everyone learned in England back in the 1800s. It did quite come in handy.

She took a taxi to the nearest train station and bought a ticket to Marseilles. Two more hours and her journey would be complete. It was sort of fitting that one death of a loved one had driven her to the sight of another. Almost like everything had come full circle. In some ways she supposed it had. She had gone from being loved to being alone and angry to loved again and back to alone. It had taken one hundred years, but it had happened.

As she approached Marseilles the numbness started to fade, replaced by the all too familiar pain. In a way she welcomed it. It meant that Christina was still was important to her.

She stepped out of the train station into the bright sun and gasped. The city looked much the same as it had a hundred years ago. Memories came rushing back to her, dropping Christina off in the city for the summer, past summers she herself had spent there, walking around the city as the nanny while she was trying to save Christina. The last of the numbness faded. She collapsed to her knees.

Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to come here after all. But yet she had nowhere else to go. She might as well stay here.

Helena collected herself quickly. The dirty looks the French gave had not changed in one hundred years either. She dusted herself off and grabbed her things, walking down the road. She knew exactly where she was going. She had to see what had become of the house that Christina had died in all those years ago.

The streets she took were familiar. The cobblestones had changed into paved roads, and the houses facades wore different colors and bore marks of different owners, but Marseilles was still Marseilles. It was strange how time could change so much in some places, yet leave others untouched.

After twenty minutes of walking she stood in front of the house. The shutters were different, blue instead of black. So were the flowers, they were geraniums instead of petunias, a favorite of her cousins. But more importantly the house was still there. She had worried that the last trace of Christina, save the picture she had in her locket, had been wiped off the face of the planet.

Her hand went up to grip her locket, so hard she felt the metal bite into her hand. She didn’t let go. How could she let go?

She stood staring at the old house for a very long time. Darkness started to fall on the city. Helena knew she should probably go and find a hotel somewhere, but she couldn’t manage to budge her feet from the spot.

She debated several times about going up to the door and knocking, but knew that wouldn’t get her anywhere. How was she supposed to explain that her daughter had been murdered in that house one hundred years previous? She would be thrown into an institution within the hour if she tried. No, she just stood there and stared until the streetlights flickered on.

Helena blinked as the light from the nearest light shined into her eyes. Artificial lights could at times be as annoying as they were handy. She much rather preferred candles. But the light did serve to wake her from whatever waking slumber she had been in.

She sighed and looked away from the house. She wondered if the inn that had been a few blocks from here was still open. She could stay there for the night. It would be close to this house if she needed to come back. Helena almost laughed at the image of her walking back to the house in Pjs. Yet, as much as she laughed she could see herself doing it.

She turned and walked towards where she hoped the inn still was. What was she doing here? Of all the places in the world she could’ve picked, why here? Why was she causing herself unnecessary pain?

Helena was pleasantly surprised that the inn she had remembered was still there. It was a little shabbier than she recalled, but she wasn’t exactly looking for a five star hotel at this point. She checked in, chatting pleasantly with the owner for a few minutes. The man was obviously lonely. From what Helena could tell from the pictures on the wall he had been married once, and still wore his wedding ring on his finger, but the inn looked like it had lacked a feminine touch for a long time. He knew of loss just as Helena had. It made her kinder to him than she would’ve been normally. The kindness of a stranger may not help the pain, but she knew it didn’t make it any worse.

She settled into her room a little while later, throwing her bag on the ground and gently setting down the bag of Myka’s things. What she really needed was a shower and some sleep after traveling for the entire day, but she walked out onto the small balcony instead.

She wasn’t very high up, third floor, but it gave her enough height so see for a sizeable distance. She watched the people come and go in the dark, lights flickering on and off in the distance and let her mind wander. So many pleasantly painful memorizes zipped across her mind, but she finally settled on the kiss her and Myka had shared the night before they had been transported by the pen. She wished she could kiss those lips just one more time. She would do anything to make it happen.

Helena closed her eyes. Well, short of blowing up the world she would do anything, and perhaps even then if she didn’t already know that Myka wouldn’t approve she would have blown up the world anyway.

She wandered in from the balcony and took a long shower. The hot water ran out long before she finished, but she didn’t feel the cold. She finally laid down in bed, cuddling up under the covers and staring at the ceiling. Helena didn’t feel particularly tired, but she felt her eyes drifting closed anyway. If only Myka were here with her she would sleep the best she had in years.

As she drifted off she thought she felt the other woman’s body pressed against hers, but she knew it couldn’t be true.

 


	19. Chapter 19

The flight was long, tedious, and more than a little irritating, but Myka managed to get through it. Pete was still chipper as always when they landed. Artie was too focused on the watch to be bothered by anything on the flight, so it was only Myka that managed to touch down in Paris grumpy. All she really wanted was a long nap and to be away from people for a while, perhaps with a good book, and a giant pack of twizzlers. But none of those were in her future, short of a miracle.

She just bit her lip and followed the signs to the baggage claim. Once they all had their bags, she turned to Artie. The man had been so distracted Pete had had to pull his bag off the carousel for him.

“Ok, so the arrow is pointing south right?” Myka asked.

“More like south east, but yes,” Artie replied.

Myka thought about that for a second. “Alright, considering where we were in Maine and that it’s pointing south east now, that means whatever the arrow is pointing to must be somewhere along the Rivera.”

“Yes! Hot girls in bikinis! Or less!”

Myka rolled her eyes. “Right, you realize that’s not what we’re here for right. Artifact that could save the Warehouse, remember?”

“Uh, yeah, right. But that doesn’t mean I can’t look while we’re there.”

“Who says we’re even going near a beach?”

Artie cleared his throat. “Ok, so the best plan of action would be to make our way to the Rivera. Any guesses what city we should shoot for, Myka.”

She shrugged. “We could always start from Marseilles. It’s the obvious choice. Then we can see where the arrow points from there.”

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Pete doing his happy dance.

“Right, Marseilles it is.” Artie walked away in a completely random direction.

“Uh, Artie? The exit is this way,” Myka called after him.

“Right, right,” Artie grumbled before going the way Myka pointed.

 

The train ride was better than the plane. Myka thought that had something to do with the absence of screaming babies and the fact that no one was trying to jam a chair through her solar plexus. Myka leaned her head on the window and sighed. She hoped whatever they were looking for was actually in France. She didn’t want to gallivant all around Europe. That would waste time the Helena could be back in her arms. Her eyes slipped closed as she imagined the hug she would get from the author once they all arrived back at the Warehouse. The corners of her mouth twitched up slightly as more and more scenarios played out behind her eyelids.

 

Two hours later they slowed down to pull into the train station at Marseilles. The sudden drop in speed woke Myka. She had apparently fallen asleep at some point during the train ride, but she swore she had stayed conscious the whole time. It seemed like the jet lag was getting to her. She yawned and started to stretch.

Artie jumped jump beside her. “Oh!” He exclaimed.

“What?” Pete asked, craning his neck to try to see the watch from across the aisle.

“The arrow moved!” Artie was practically jumping up and down. This was as animated as Myka had ever seen the man.

“That means it has to be somewhere in Marseilles, right?” Pete practically looked like a giraffe, his neck was stretched out so far to try and see the watch.

 “Hopefully. It would make the most sense.”

Myka closed her eyes again and thanked whoever might be listening. They were one step closer to saving the Warehouse, finally. She could practically taste Helena’s lips on hers.

“Now the question is where in Marseilles.” Myka bit her lip. Marseilles was a big city. Maybe they weren’t as close as she thought. The taste of sweet lips faded from hers.

“It has to be somewhere near the train station, doesn’t it? I mean the arrow didn’t change direction until just a second ago,” Pete said.

“And it has to be somewhere in the north of the city, so that narrows it down even more,” Artie continued.

“So we have a half circle out from the train station that could be where our artifact is. Booyah! Progress.” Pete smiled brightly.

Myka snorted at his ridiculous grin, but felt herself smiling along anyway. They had this under control. Everything would be fine. Artie and Pete would help her. There was no need to panic. Myka took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. She just had to keep reminding herself that everything would be fine.

But yet there was a feeling in the bottom of her stomach that started to creep up her throat again. It left a bad taste in her mouth. But it was ridiculous, she was just panicking because she didn’t want anything to go wrong. Everything was fine. Fine. They were hot on the trail of the artifact and it would bring the Warehouse back and everyone would live happily ever after. Or at least as happily ever after as anyone who worked for the Warehouse ever did, anyway.

The train had come to a full stop while she had been talking herself out of her panic. Artie and Pete were grabbing their stuff from the overhead compartment. Myka hurriedly stood up and joined them. Getting lost in thought was not going to bring Helena back. She had to get her head back in the game and stop worrying. There was nothing that could go wrong.

 

Once they got out of the train station they followed the arrow on the pocket watch as closely as they could. Now that they were nearer to the artifact, the arrow was pointing them through buildings and other obstacles. They tried to follow it as best they could, but they did manage to hit a few dead ends along the way, having to retrace their steps and find another way around.

The scenery around them changed from mostly businesses to a more residential area. Houses that had to have been around for quite a while lined up nicely on either side of the street, watching the group walk down the street. Myka almost felt they were alive. Houses as old as these had seen a lot of history and been through more than any human ever had. It almost gave them a personality. A strange thought, but then again her experience with the Warehouse had taught her never to assume just because something was inanimate that it wasn’t alive. The Warehouse itself had more personality than some people had.

Eventually they wound their way to a street where the arrow turned again. It now pointed to a house painted white with blue shutters and geraniums planted around it. Myka bit her lip and stared at it for a long moment. There was something about this house, something she couldn’t quite place. She shrugged. It was probably just the artifact messing with her senses.

Artie walked up the sidewalk and onto the property of the house, watching the arrow carefully. After circling around a few times he finally settled in front of one of the beds of geraniums right in front of the porch. His eyebrows squished together, considering.

“So that’s where the pocket watch is leading us? A flower?” Pete asked.

“Probably more like the area under the flower Pete.” Myka rolled her eyes.

“Right, because artifact hunts are always so easy.”

Artie finally spoke up. “Hold on, I’m going to see if going behind the house changes anything.”

Myka and Pete nodded. Artie waddled off behind the house and came back a few minutes later.

“It changes position along the back of the house and points in towards the house. I think that the artifact might be inside.”

“But how do we get inside, Artie? It’s not like the Secret Service has any jurisdiction in France. We’ll get even crazier looks than normal.” Myka pinched the bridge of her nose. Why couldn’t the artifact just be under the doormat or something easy?

“Well the Secret Service doesn’t have jurisdiction here, but utility companies do.”

“And where do we have French utility workers uniforms just stashed away?”

Artie lifted his bag and raised a bushy eyebrow. “Never doubt the bag.”

“What has your bag morphed into Mary Poppins bag now?”

“Finally, Myka made a reference that I understand,” Pete chimed in.

Myka glared at Pete.

“What? It’s not like everyone knows what open sesame is in Arabic.” Pete held up his hands.

“Speaking of foreign languages, Myka how is your French?” Artie asked.

Myka shrugged. “Passable, I guess. I’m not going to sound native at all, so the homeowners might think something is up.”

Artie waved her concerns away. “Everything will be fine as long as you can get the message across that we need inside the house to check for gas leaks, preferably in the basement if they have one. Artifacts like to hide in basements.”

“That I can do, whether they believe our act or not, well that probably depends on Pete not making obnoxious references to baguettes.”

“Hey! Baguettes are tasty.”

“And also the only French word you know.”

“I know croissant too! And don’t forget oui oui!”

Myka rolled her eyes. “Tu es bête.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m not going to tell you.”

“Oh come on Myka! You can’t just leave me hanging like that.”

“Anyway!” Artie exclaimed. “For now I think we need to go find a hotel and spend the night. Our guise as utility workers will be more believable in the morning. Now if you children can stop fighting, why don’t we see where the closest hotel is so maybe, just maybe we can get some rest.”

“Alright Artie,” Pete said starting to walk down the sidewalk to the road.

“Didn’t we pass an inn on the way here?” Myka asked, following.

Pete and Artie both shrugged.

“Ok then, I think it was this way.”

Myka walked off up the street with both men following her.

 

The group checked into three small rooms. The old man at the front desk was very chatty, talking with Myka long after they had finished checking in. He complimented her on her French, saying he almost couldn’t tell she was American. Myka blushed. She knew it wasn’t true, but the old man seemed lonely and eager to please. From what Myka could tell from the lobby the hotel didn’t get too many visitors, probably just enough to scrape by, and she never saw the woman featured in so many of the pictures of the man hanging around the lobby.

Myka frowned. Not everyone got to bring their loved ones back from the grave. It was a sad thought.

She talked with the man a few minutes more before heading up to her room. Her room was on the third floor and it had a balcony that overlooked the city. Myka stood out on the balcony for a few minutes just watching the comings and goings of people. Everyone looked so happy. She hoped that soon she could be as happy and carefree as them, perhaps holding her lovers hand, as she saw couple after couple walk by her perch.

Eventually she wandered in and took a shower. Showering seemed to always be the time when thoughts of Helena hit her the hardest. Her mind had nothing else to focus on. It wasn’t like it took much of her brain to shampoo her hair. All this international travel sent her back to the first time she had met Helena, in her old home back in England. Holding the woman at gunpoint had been so odd. She had been so furious yet so oddly attracted to the author. She had denied it for months after it happened, but now she could see everything so clearly. She was attracted to Helena since the instant she first saw her, and it hadn’t been diminished even by the fact that dropping from the ceiling that same day had hurt like hell.

Myka got out after the hot had turned to cold. She hoped the others had already taken their showers; otherwise they would be cursing her name later. She slipped into some pjs and then under the covers, sighing. She was so tired she felt like she could sleep for a year. If only Helena was here lying with her, perhaps she could.

She rolled over onto her side and started to fall almost instantly asleep. She could almost feel her arm wrapping around Helena’s waist and drawing her closer, but Myka knew it had to be a dream.

 


	20. Chapter 20

Helena woke up in a room that looked quite like her own, but wasn’t. Little details were off about it. Her bag wasn’t on the floor beside her. Myka’s bag wasn’t carefully placed on the bed within easy reach. Instead, it was over on the desk chair, with clothing spilling out of it.

She sat up. What exactly was going on? She looked down at her attire. It wasn’t the ratty t-shirt and sweats that she had fallen asleep in. Marvelous invention sweat pants, Helena had taken to them readily. Instead, she was in a short, spaghetti strap, blue silk nightgown. She remembered buying it, shortly after she had been unbronzed and had still clung sleeping attire more like what she had been used to back in the 1800s. She had only worn it once, perhaps twice before she traded it in favor of sweats. Myka had loaned her a pair on a mission when she had forgotten to pack pajamas and she hadn’t looked back.

The shower in the other room started up. Helena jumped. Who was in the room with her? She slipped out of bed to go investigate.

The door to the bathroom wasn’t quite all the way shut. She pushed it open and stepped inside. She froze when her brain fully registered what was in front of her.

Myka. Myka in the shower. Myka _naked_ and in the shower.

She gasped. She didn’t think she had ever seen a more beautiful sight.

The other woman turned around at the sound. She watched Myka’s green eyes widen to the size of saucers. Her mouth moved soundlessly.

Helena took a step forward. How was this even possible?

Myka stood staring, water running over her body. Helena quite wished she could be that water right now.

“Helena,” Myka finally said.

“Myka.” She took another step forward.

“What-?” Myka couldn’t finish the question.

“I’m trying to figure it out for myself, darling.” She stepped into the tub and into the spray of the water. Her nightgown was soaked through in seconds, pasting itself to her body. She lifted a hand to cup Myka’s face. She felt so real, so alive. How?

It must be a dream, she concluded somewhere in the back of her mind where she was still capable of rational thought. But even if it was a dream there was something she had to do.

Tears welled up in Helena’s eyes. “Myka, I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you. I tried. I tried so bloody hard, but it was like there was something holding me back and I just couldn’t move or think or anything. All I could do is sit there and watch as you blew up right before my eyes. It was so much worse than watching Christina die all those times in my trips in the time machine. At least then I could fight, try to change things. I don’t know why but I just couldn’t move and I’ll never forgive myself for it.”

She tilted her head down and the water threw her hair into her face. She was glad of it. She didn’t want Myka, even in a dream, to see her so weak.

Myka’s hand lifted her chin so Helena was looking her in the eyes.

“I’m not dead Helena. I’m alive. I was the one who couldn’t save you. I couldn’t save you.” Her voice broke. “I can never save anyone. I was late and Sam got killed. And then I couldn’t save you because I just froze. What good am I if I can never save anyone I love?”

Helena pulled Myka into a hug. The women cried on each other’s shoulders for a very long time. The water ran cold, but neither felt it. They were too wrapped up in each other.

Finally, with a shudder that shook her whole body Myka pulled back. She smiled through the tears. “But it’s ok. I may not have been able to save you back at the Warehouse, but I can save you now. The artifact that the compass is leading us to will save you and the Warehouse both. I’ll get to have you in my arms again. Though I’m not sure I ever did. I’m beginning to think Stanford was just a dream that my mind made up to make me feel better about this whole thing, or at least made up to try and make me feel better. It actually ended up making it worse. I finally had and accepted your love only to have it ripped away.” Myka sobbed again. “But now it’s going to be fine. Fine. Absolutely fine. And even if Stanford was a dream it won’t matter because I’ll have you and the first thing I’m doing when we get back from Marseilles is running to the B&B and finding you and kissing those beautiful lips of yours.”

Myka’s finger lightly traced the edges of her lips. Her fingers felt like exquisite fire against her skin. She leaned into the contact.

“And honestly as much as I love this dream right now, I want it to be over so I can walk into that house with the blue shutters and geraniums take the artifact and have you back that much sooner.”

The last sentence caught Helena’s attention.

“What house, darling?”

“Well it’s a couple streets down from the inn we’re staying at. It has the artifact in it, so says Artie’s pocket watch.”

“On Rue Lamartine?”

“Yes.” Myka cocked her head. “Wait, how do you know?” She rolled her eyes. “Right, dream. Forgot, you know everything I do.” She scowled. “Wait, then why did you need to ask?”

Helena let Myka ponder that out as the room spun around her. There was an artifact in the same house that Christina had died in. One that might save the Warehouse and Myka along with it.

But she hadn’t known that before. How could a dream tell her things she didn’t know? She frowned. It seemed she was pondering the exact same thing that Myka was. Once more she didn’t think that Stanford was a dream as Myka had said earlier, she thought it time travel. And Myka had saved her and she had saved Myka in their respective worlds. The pieces didn’t quite fit, and Helena didn’t have enough information to start trying to put them together.

Outside the dream Helena could feel herself stirring. There wasn’t going to be much more time left in this dream. The pieces for now would have to be left alone.

She pulled Myka’s face to hers and kissed her, desperately, deeply. Myka returned the kiss after a startled second, having been drawn out of her thoughts too suddenly. Helena wrapped her arms around Myka’s naked frame, hands slowly exploring bare skin. She felt Myka’s hands on her hips, warm through the thin fabric of her night gown. She cursed that it was in the way of true skin on skin contact.

The dream scenery started to fade away around them. First, all of the bathroom besides the shower faded. Then the water slowed and then stopped. Next the shower faded away from beneath their feet. Finally, the two of them started to disappear as well. They both faded from the feet up, slowly, almost like a nightmare, but Helena didn’t feel the fear. The last thing she felt was Myka’s lips on her own.

 


	21. Chapter 21

Myka woke up, lips tingling. She could still almost taste Helena on them. How it was possible she wasn’t quite sure, but then again she wasn’t quite sure of anything right then.

She sat up and mussed her hair, curls falling every which way. That was truly the most strange and pleasant dream that she had had in ages. Definitely more strange than watching Helena driving across the Badlands while crying, but that dream came in a close second.

It didn’t matter. Today was the day they were going to save Helena. She didn’t have to keep having strange dreams about the woman; she could have the real thing in her arms while she slept. Myka smiled. She was going to enjoy that thoroughly.

She got up, showered, and dressed, meeting Artie and Pete down in the lobby. Pete was stuffing his mouth with a croissant while Artie looking on, the corners of his mouth lifting ever so slightly. Myka rolled her eyes. No matter what country they were in, no matter what the food, Pete was sure to be shoving some of it in his mouth at some points. Alright, most of the points.

She joined them, smiling brightly. “Are we all set?” she asked.

“Yes.” Artie opened his bag and showed her the myriad of things inside. Myka could see a couple of reflective vests, hard hats, work boots, work shirts, jeans, faked ID badges, among other things.

“Do I want to ask how you got all of this or…?” Myka trailed off.

“Don’t ask, Mykes. I already did and it didn’t have a happy ending.”

“Right, never mind then. Shall we?”

The trio walked out the door and towards the house. They stopped and changed into the fake utility worker attire in a secluded alley along the way. Their original clothes went under the tools that Artie had also managed to cram into his bag. Myka wondered just how the older man managed to carry the bag so easily. Years of practice maybe?

They arrived at the house a few minutes later. Myka knocked, stationed at the front of the group since she was going to be doing most of the talking. A petite French woman opened the door a minute later.

“Oui?” she looked over the group questioningly.

“Bonjour, we’re here from Société des Eaux de Marseille. We detected a leak in a main line and we’re here to fix it.” Myka smiled brightly, hoping to make up for her slightly hesitant French.

The woman looked them up and down again and nodded. “D’accord.”  She stepped back to allow them in.

“Where do you need to work?” The woman asked, once everyone was inside.

“The basement, probably,” Myka responded. “If we don’t find what we’re looking for down there we might have to look elsewhere, but these problems are usually in the basement.”

She nodded and led them over to a door. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Myka inclined her head. “Merci.”

The group descended into the basement down a steep set of stairs. Myka didn’t quite know what it was about old houses and borderline dangerous stairways, but they seemed to go hand in hand. She kept her fingers tightly gripped around the railing as she went down.

“Well crap,” Pete said as they hit the bottom of the stairs. Boxes were everywhere. It looked like the basement hadn’t seen a good spring cleaning in years.

Myka groaned. This was going to take forever. She started to walk towards the first box.

“Wait, maybe the pocket watch can make this a little easier.” Artie pulled it out of his bag and looked at the face. He scowled down at it. “Never mind, it seems that now we’re so close to the artifact the pocket watch is just a pocket watch. We’re on our own.”

“Great.” Myka flipped open the first box and started weeding through. Antique letters and photos were contained within. Myka looked at a few in passing. The photos were quite old. The people in them were still posed formally as if they were getting a portrait done, not having their picture taken.

She rustled around in the box for a few seconds more before deeming that there was nothing in the box besides paper and photos. Not that an artifact couldn’t be paper or photos, but Myka just didn’t think that was the case this time.

She moved to close the box, but something caught her eye right before she put the flaps back down. She reopened the box and grabbed out the photo. Her eyes widened. She knew the face in the photo. Helena was pictured, with her little girl Christina at her side. She stared at the photo for a long minute. It couldn’t be, could it?

She bit her lip and dug around in the box again. A couple of letters later she had what she wanted. A letter in Helena’s script. The letter that asked her cousins if they minded keeping Christina for the summer.

This had to be the house that Christina had been murdered in. Of all the houses in France in all the towns, they had just so happened to walk into the one where Christina was murdered. No, things like that didn’t just happen around the Warehouse.

“Guys, I think I found something. Not the artifact, but something important anyway.”

Artie came over first and took the letter and photo from her hands. “My god,” he said immediately.

Myka gave him a few seconds before she asked, “Artie, what exactly are the chances that we just so happened to walk into the house where Christina was murdered?”

“Very, very, _very_ tiny.”

“Whoa, wait what?” Pete asked, looking over Artie’s shoulder. His eyes widened. “That’s H.G. isn’t it?”

Myka nodded. “Do you think this has anything to do with why the artifact is here, Artie?”

“Maybe, let’s find it before we call it officially, but really, I don’t believe in coincidence.”

 

Myka searched box after box after box without finding anything. The basement had been bigger than they had thought on first glance. How someone didn’t clean out their basement for over a hundred year, so couldn’t quite fathom. Most of it was just boxes of junk or boxes of letters from people long since dead. She felt like she was trying to find an artifact in a thrift shop that was connected to a library. It could literally be anything she touched if all they found was boxes of letters and photos and the occasional box of broken things.

“Bingo!” Pete called out just as Myka was shutting another box and moving it to the side.

“What Pete?” Artie asked.

He held something in front of him. Myka looked a second before recognizing exactly what it was, a pocket watch chain.

“Are you sure that’s it Pete?” Myka asked.

He nodded. “I’ve got a vibe about it.”

“Well how exactly will that save the Warehouse?” Myka got up from the floor and walked over to him, picking up the chain and weighing it in her hands.

Artie pulled out the pocket watch again. “Perhaps it’s a bifurcated artifact.”

Myka nodded. “Makes sense.” She started to walk over to Artie when the pocket watch started to whirr in his hands.

“What’s going on?” Pete asked just as something started to project from the watch.

A ghostly image of James Macpherson appeared in front of them. Pete and Myka both jumped back. Artie stepped forward, reaching out.

“James,” he said hoarsely.

“Artie.” The holographic man smiled warmly.

The pair just stared at each other for a few seconds before Macpherson cleared his throat. “Well I suppose since the projector has activated I assume that the Warehouse has been destroyed.”

Artie nodded. “A few days ago.”

Macpherson’s smiled faded. “Of course. And you must be near the chain as well.”

Artie held up the chain. “We just found it.”

“Good, good. I’m glad the device I built into the pocket watch worked as planned.”

“How did you build a hologram projector into the watch? Last time I checked mechanics weren’t exactly your thing, James. You were the charmer, I was the one who handled the gadgets.”

Macpherson’s smiled returned. “That you were. I admit, I did have quite a bit of help with this project. Mostly, I supplied the idea, a projector to fit inside the watch without interfering with its workings that would not only be sentient, but would only activate in the presence of the chain. Everyone else did all of the work. I suppose my particular talents laid in the fact that I charmed all of them into working for me.”

“Why did you implant the projector in the pocket watch in the first place?” Myka asked, finally snapping out of the stupor she’d been in. Honestly holograms shouldn’t surprise her so much anymore.

He glanced over at Myka before saying, “Because I felt the need to leave one last message to the world.” He looked back at Artie again. “I knew our last parting was probably not going to be on the best terms. Quite honestly I’ll be surprised if I’m alive after the plan I cooked up.” He took in the look on Artie’s face after that statement. “So I am dead.” He inclined his head to the side. “Well it was quite the long shot. I suppose revenge against the regents never really would have ended any other way. Being blinded by hate probably did not help anything.”

The man paused a moment. “No matter what I did Artie, it was not revenge against you in any way. If anything I suppose I just wanted you to see what a fool you were being. Considering how things turned out, I guess I was the fool. Hindsight does make things quite a lot clearer, I believe.”

“James, I’m sorry,” Artie said.

“Whatever for?”

“I couldn’t help you. I wanted to, but I could never see how. I’m just sorry.”

Macpherson’s face softened. “Artie, you helped me more than you will ever know. Why would I have given you that pocket watch if you hadn’t?” He looked down at the pocket watch. “That little timepiece has been in a Warehouse agent’s possession ever since it was discovered and the Regents figured out that it had the potential to save the Warehouse should anything catastrophic happen to it. The only conditions for the pocket watch to work was that the watch had to remain in the area it was supposed to save for the vast majority of the time, basically it must have a home, and the watch must have an owner. At the time of my expulsion from the Warehouse, I was its keeper.

“After I saved Carol with the phoenix I knew what was coming. I hid the watch where the Regents would never find it. They questioned me about it for hours upon hours before they threw me in that wretched prison, but I never let them know where it was. I certainly didn’t want them to have a way to save the Warehouse if it was destroyed. Once I escaped I picked it up and carried it with me everywhere I went. It was a symbol of my goals. I wanted to destroy the Warehouse, perhaps not in the sense that the watch was meant to fix, though. The watch is meant to restore physical damage, nothing else. It cannot fix a breakdown of the Warehouse operating system. Were the regents suddenly to disappear, well it wouldn’t be able to right that. 

I managed to find the other half of the artifact, without the guidance system built into the pocket watch and I hid that as well. Once that was done I went about plotting my revenge and amassing the resources to carry out such a plan. I wanted to be the only one able to resurrect the Warehouse if my plan somehow went awry and the Warehouse was destroyed. I did not want the artifacts to be destroyed, on the contrary, I wanted to be able to use them, to spread them throughout the world so they could be used for the good of the world. It was only practical to have such a backup plan.

“Somewhere along the line, though, that backup plan morphed into something different. Actually, it was around the time I was going to start the first stages of my plan. I found myself gathering the scientists and engineers needed to build this projector. I took the chain from its original hiding place and hid it here. Did you know this is the house where H.G. Wells’s daughter was killed?”

Artie nodded. “There were old family letters in some of the boxes.”

“Ah, I see. This place in and of itself was a safeguard in its own right. I knew I was going to be reviving Wells. I was quite sure she was going to be quite unstable. I did not know if she was going to end up destroying the Warehouse or not. She knew of the pocket watch, she knew what it did, I believe she might have even been its keeper for a time, so I knew she could not get her hands on the watch or the chain. If I had left the chain where it was she could have perhaps found it. Better to keep the chain in the one place that I knew she would never set foot in again.”

Macpherson gestured around him. “What better place than the house where her daughter was murdered? Once it was protected from her the scientists pulled through with the hologram projector, implanting it in the watch. The tests they had to do to get my personality onto this bloody thing were quite ridiculous, but I see now they were quite worth it.”

The British man laughed. “You know I did not really know why I was doing all of these things, really. I rationalized it away under a backup plan, but that wasn’t the case. I needed there to be a way to right my wrongs, to save everything that I hated so dearly. I needed a way to somehow to say I’m sorry to the one person I had wronged the most. I honestly have no idea why I did the things that I did, perhaps all the anger I felt in my body didn’t transfer onto this hologram, but I’m sorry Artie. I think in the back of my mind all along I’ve always been sorry, it was just drowned out by hate.”

Artie blinked a few times. “It’s ok James. We all make mistakes.”

Macpherson smiled sadly. “Not everyone makes mistakes as big as mine, but that you anyway Artie. It is lovely to hear you say those words. I thought I would never hear them. I suppose giving you that pocket watch was the first step towards them. I’m so glad that I did.”

For a moment Myka thought the two men were going to hug, but then she remembered that was an impossibility. Passing through a hologram wasn’t a thoroughly pleasant experience either. She bit her lip. She had found what had been bugging Artie she guessed. Macpherson after all this time. How odd.

The hologram started to fade around the edges. The pair blinked and Artie looked down at the watch, flicking it in hopes of getting it to work fully again.

“Right, I do not suppose the project had much of a battery to go with it since it was so small. Before it gives out completely, Artie, I must mention that the pocket watch and chain will only work if the damage done to the Warehouse is truly catastrophic. I’m not quite sure it will even work if the Warehouse has been almost leveled. The regents always made it sound as if it would work only if Pandora’s Box was compromised and the world had truly lost all hope. I suppose you can try and test that assumption if Pandora’s Box managed to survive whatever took out the Warehouse, but it’s not guaranteed to work. Had my plan destroyed the Warehouse I was planning on taking out Pandora’s Box to assure that the watch worked, but I think that’s beside the point now.”

The image flickered again, barely coming back this time. Macpherson smiled at Artie. “Goodbye old friend.” The hologram wavered and then finally went out.

Artie griped the pocket watch tightly, closing his eyes. After a few long seconds he opened his eyes again and looked at the two other agents. Pete spoke up first.

“Artie, what happens if it doesn’t work? Pandora’s Box wasn’t broken in the blast.”

“We’ll just have to see, now won’t we?” The man snapped, a little harsher than usual.

“This was our only hope of getting the Warehouse back, though.”

“We’ll just find another way. There has to be another way.”

Myka thought she heard Artie mutter something about endless wonder actually being useful for once, but she wasn’t quite sure.

“Why don’t we just try the pocket watch before we start jumping into what ifs,” Myka said.

Artie nodded, took out the chain and attached it to the pocket watch. The hands on the watch wavered from the time they had been stuck at since the Warehouse had blown up, and finally started to click forward again. The three of them looked at it for a few more seconds.

“What do you think that means?” Pete asked.

Myka had a sinking feeling in her stomach. “Call Leena, see if anything happened.”

Pete took out the Farnsworth and hit the call button. The woman picked up after a few rings.

“Hey Pete, what’s up?”

“Hey, crazy question, is the Warehouse back?”

Leena paused, face glazing over like it did whenever she read someone’s aura. She shook her head. “No, why?”

Pete sighed loudly. “Well, I suppose that answered the question if the artifact worked or not. Sorry Leena, we’ll tell you everything later. For now I think we have to start from scratch.” Pete shut the Farnsworth. “Now what?”

Myka sunk to the floor. Now what indeed.

 

Myka barely remembered the walk back to the hotel. She vaguely recalled Pete helping her up, arm around her waist, supporting her. She didn’t have to will to stand. Why should she? The hope of getting Helena back had been snatched from her yet again.

“-kes. Mykes!” Pete whispered into her ear. “Mykes, we need you to work your French magic so we can get out of here.”

Myka nodded numbly. She could do that. She wanted to be out of this god forsaken basement and alone in her room at the hotel. She could pull it together at least enough to mumble something about the pipes being fixed.

They ascended the stairs. The woman heard their footsteps and met them at the top.

“Is everything ok?” she asked.

Myka nodded. “Everything’s fixed. You’re good to go.”

The woman smiled. “Merci.” She led them out of the house.

When the cool air hit her face Myka felt herself collapsing again. Pete was there in an instant, holding her up again. She should be grateful to have such a good partner, but she couldn’t feel anything besides grief. Perhaps the gratitude would come later when she could feel again. If she could feel again.

They walked back to the hotel, Pete holding Myka up, Artie holding the pocket watch in a vice grip. He looked like he thought the pocket watch would disappear if he so much let it from his sight. Myka supposed she could understand that.

The group changed in the same alley they had a couple hours before. Pete helped Myka change before he changed himself. Myka couldn’t bring herself to care that he had just seen more of her than she had ever wanted him to. What was the point? It wasn’t like Pete hadn’t inhabited her body at one time.  None of it mattered now.

They walked into the hotel. The old man behind the desk shot her a concerned look.

“Is everything ok?” he asked.

Myka shook her head and allowed Pete to continue shuffling her towards her room. Once there she collapsed into a ball, not bothering to shed any of her clothing. She drew her knees to her chest and started to sob. The sobs wracked her body, shaking the bed below her. She felt like she was breaking, and maybe she was. She couldn’t help but think that was a good thing. She couldn’t stand the pain as a whole, breaking into pieces might distribute the pain. Or at least she could only hope it did as the sobs ripped her further and further apart.

What felt like hours later, the tears ran dry and Myka couldn’t cry anymore. She didn’t feel any better. She just felt empty and alone. Her feelings wouldn’t even keep her company. She closed her swollen eyes. Perhaps sleep would be merciful and take her away. She no more wished for it before the blackness took her. She could’ve sobbed again in relief.

 


	22. Chapter 22

Helena woke up smiling. The expression felt strange on her face. She felt like she hadn’t smiled in a very, very long time. Had it really only been a few days since a smile had lit her face? It was strange how grief made the time pass so slowly.

She sat up and stretched, sighing contentedly. Everything wasn’t quite right yet, no there were still pieces to put together before that happened, but Helena for the first time could see that there would be a way to solve all the problems.  All she had to do was fit those puzzle pieces together, and she was quite good at puzzles.

Helena knew the dreams she was having weren’t quite dreams. She had figured that out for herself within the dream, or whatever it was, last night. It wasn’t like she was unfamiliar with such things. The dreams she and Myka had had before all of this turned out to be more than dreams as well. But the question was why? And the dreams she was having now weren’t quite the same as those before. They were more like a separate world they were a part of, some place where realities crossed. And somehow the pen was connected back to all of this. But how exactly?

She needed more information, to lay more pieces of the puzzle out in front of her. Helena bit her lip. She knew what she should do, but… She swallowed. She just spent hours the previous day staring at that house. She had even considered going in there. It was stupid of her to feel so reluctant now. She would go and look for the artifact Myka had talked about and perhaps she might add a piece of knowledge to her puzzle pieces in the process.

She got up off the bed. She looked into the mirror across the room and cringed. Well, she was going to go find the artifact, but not looking like she did. She doubted anyone would let her into their homes looking like this. She ran a hand through her hair, only making it worse. A shower would fix most of the mess, at least enough to make her presentable. Getting Myka back would fix the rest. It was amazing she hadn’t frightened off small children on her travels looking as she did.

She snorted and gathered her things for a shower.

An hour later she walked out the door of her room and down into the lobby of the hotel. The old man smiled at her. She returned the smile, the expression not feeling quite so awkward this time.

“You’re looking better today,” the old man observed.

Helena nodded. “I feel quite a lot better.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Helena grabbed a croissant. She bit her lip for a second before going with a hunch. “Do you perchance know the people who live in a house on Rue Lamartine with blue shutters and geraniums out front? I believe the exact address is 33 Rue Lamartine if I remember correctly.”

The old man squinted, thinking. His eyebrows shot up after a second. “Oh, I think I do know the place you’re talking about. I walk by it on the way to the market. I’ve seen the family who lives there, had a passing conversation the wife, but other than knowing they have a daughter and a dog that likes to dig up their flowers, I don’t know them really. Why do you ask?”

“The home they live in used to be a family home. My mother thinks that something important could’ve been left in the house and begged me to go and check. Since she’s been so sick recently I didn’t have the heart to tell her no.” The lie rolled easily off her tongue. She felt a little bad lying to this man who had shown her nothing but kindness, but it was necessary in this case. Anyone not associated with the Warehouse would have a hard time believing she was from the Victorian era. The last thing she wanted was to end up in an asylum at this juncture.

The old man nodded and glance up to one of the many pictures of his wife on the walls. “I know what you mean.” He swallowed. “I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.”

Helena smiled again. “Thank you.”

 

She walked out of the lobby and down the streets to the house. Again she stood in front of the house, just staring for a few long moments. She could do this. She would. For Myka.

She took a deep breath and walked up the side walk and to the door. Her fist shook a little as she lifted it to knock. She hoped someone was home. She wasn’t quite sure how long it would take her to work up the courage to come back here again if they weren’t.

A small woman with blonde hair opened the door. “Yes?” she asked.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt your day, but, this is going to sound sort of crazy, this used to be an old family home and my mother sent me back here to look for something she’s positive she left here years ago when she was a little girl. She’s been quite sick lately, so I couldn’t really say no to her request.”

The woman smiled. “We’ll do anything for our mother’s, won’t we?” She stepped back from the door. “Come in. I don’t know if you’ll find anything, but I don’t think it will hurt to look.”

She smiled at the woman. “Thank you so much.”

Helena stepped inside the house. She almost didn’t recognize it. The underlying architecture was still the same, but almost everything else had changed. New wall paper, carpet over the wood floors, different decorations, updated light fixtures, she could almost imagine this wasn’t the home Christina was murdered in. Almost. There was enough to trigger her memories to replay the scenes from that day.

The woman cleared her throat, interrupting Helena’s thoughts.

“Oh my, terribly sorry. It’s just it’s almost exactly how my mother described it. Being here makes the stories she used to tell me so real.”

“I see. My mother never was one for stories. I envy you in that. I feel like there were a lot of things I never knew about her.”

Helena contained a snort. Her mother probably could’ve put the woman’s to shame in the cold distance department. She fawned over Charles, but everything directed towards her had been a mild at best. She wasn’t exactly what her mother had wished for in a daughter. Add to that Victorian era sensibilities…well it had only made it worse. She hoped she had been the complete opposite for Christina, but she didn’t really know if she had succeeded.

“I’m sorry, I never even asked your name. I’m Cécile.”

“Helena,” she replied automatically. Damn, she thought. That hadn’t been smart of her, giving her real name. Whatever, it was done now.

“Quite a pretty name, old fashioned as well.”

Helena smiled. “Yes, my mother did prefer older names. She found them to be much more proper than most of the names floating around at the time I was born.” Yes, her mother had hated lower class names such as Bessie and Dot. How many times had she heard that rant when she was pregnant with Christina? Far too many.

“Would you like a cup of coffee? I would offer tea, but we never actually drink it around here.”

“Coffee is fine. And here I thought I had gotten rid of the English accent in my French long ago.”

Cécile smiled. “Not quite, but I’m an English teacher by trade. I’ve conversed with many English people who’ve had nearly flawless French, but I think an accent is harder to ditch than most people think. I don’t think most people would notice it, though.”

Helena nodded. “Interesting.”

 

The sat at the table idly conversing over coffee for a half an hour before things turned back to the subject at hand. It seemed Helena had truly gained the woman’s trust enough for her to allow her to roam about her home looking for whatever it was she came to find. Considering her quick initial invite into her home Helena had thought it would have taken less time, but people did surprise her now and again. Myka certainly had. 

“The only place I can think of that might have something that’s been left from previous owners would be the basement. The top floors of the house were completely cleaned out, but the basement had some boxes filled with things left over from who knows when. It’s probably your best bet.” Cécile stood up.

“Well that’s a good a place as any to start looking. Thank you again for letting me look by the way. I’m not sure many people would let a stranger into their home to look for something their mother had lost years ago.” Helena stood as well.

The woman shrugged.  “You aren’t a stranger now. The basement is this way.”

She led Helena down a short hallway to a door. Cécile opened the door and gestured for Helena to go down.

“I have a few things to do upstairs, but if you need anything just yell. Ok?”

“Sounds good.” It was absolutely perfect actually, but she didn’t need to let her host know that.

She descended the stairs and came out at the bottom, surrounded by more boxes than she had seen anywhere but the Warehouse. This was going to be an interesting hunt. She approached the first box and started to dig.

Immediately she recognized her own writing on paper yellowed with age. She quickly glanced over one of the papers. They were letters she had written her cousin the year Christina had been murdered.  She swallowed hard. How had these letters survived so long in a box in a basement? Surely they should have crumbled to dust by now, but here they were looking barely worse for the ware. It seemed time had a way of preserving unimportant things.

Helena kept digging through the box, finding photos mixed in along the bottom. They were mainly of her cousin’s family, but there were a few of her, all terrible pictures of her, all stuffy and posed, photos she had gotten to please the family and really nothing else. She much preferred the spontaneous photos of the modern day. Then there was one, small photo of Christina. Tears sprang to her eyes. It was a different photo than the one she kept in her locket. Christina was older in this photo, perhaps it was taken that fateful summer. The photo had no date on it, so she wasn’t quite sure. She held the photo to her face. Here her baby was so close but so far away.

She slipped the photo into her pocket and kept on searching. Helena wished she had someone else here to help her search. She was sure it would go much faster, especially since she had no idea what exactly she was looking for. Then again, that was like most artifact hunts she supposed.

Boxes slowly piled up in the pile she had dedicated as her searched pile. Most of the boxes contained the detritus of life, old paper work, photos, broken things put away to be fixed at a later date. There was nothing particularly artifact like about anything she touched. She kept digging, hoping that somewhere along the line she would get lucky and not have to search every single box only to come up with nothing.

 

A few hours and a dozen boxes later she pulled out a pocket watch chain. She smiled. Myka had said something about a pocket watch. She was almost positive that this was the artifact that she had talked about going to find. Helena picked herself up off the floor, brushed herself off, and started to climb the stairs.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Cécile’s voice floated in from the kitchen.

Helena headed towards her voice. “I did.” She held up the pocket watch chain. “My mother’s grandfather’s pocket watch chain. She’ll be so delighted I actually managed to find it. How I actually had the luck to find such a thing after so many years I’ll never know, but you were definitely part of it.”

Cécile smiled. “I’m glad I could help.”

 

Helena spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with Cécile, but her mind wasn’t really on the conversation. She thanked her lucky stars she had learned to be able to maintain polite conversation with little, if any thought. Her mind, instead, was on the pocket watch chain now laying in her pocket. Occasionally she would slip her hand inside her pocket to run a finger over the smooth metal. What exactly could this artifact do to restore the Warehouse? And how exactly was she supposed to get it to work?

She left the house at dusk, thanking Cécile again. Unwittingly the woman might have just given her the ticket to solve the puzzle, or for lack of that, save Myka in this world. She would be happy either way.

The walk to the hotel was a blur. Her mind was far too busy to catalogue the streets she had walked a hundred times before. She hadn’t been able to think of a way to activate the artifact. Perhaps it was a bifurcated artifact. Myka had said the pocket watch had been pointing to the house, perhaps it was the other half. In that case she would need to contact the person who had the other half in order to get it to work.

She would have to call Artie. That was not a call she was looking forward to.

She swept up to her room with a brief hello to the old man. Helena walked over to Myka’s bag and picked it up. Myka’s Farnsworth was in here. She knew it was. But how exactly was Artie going to react getting a call from a dead agent’s Farnsworth?

Probably about as bad as he was going to react to Helena calling him.

She started to dig into Myka’s bag, fingers coming across the cool metal quickly. She pulled the device out and hit the call button before she could change her mind. It started ringing immediately.

“Hello?” A gruff voice answered. The man wasn’t turned towards the screen. It appeared that he was looking at his computer screen instead.

“Hello Artie,” she said smoothly.

The man whipped around and caught sight of Helena. “You!”

“Yes, it is me.”

“What are you doing with Myka’s Farnsworth?”

“Honestly, Artie, do you really have to ask that question. I took it. Along with most of Myka’s things, or have you not figured that out yet?”

“Oh, we figured it out. Why did you take her stuff? What evil plot are you planning now?”

Helena fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Even though you won’t believe me there is no evil plot. I took Myka’s things because, quite honestly, I wanted the last remnants of her to be with me. I don’t know what evil plot could be pulled off with a few button down shirts and a Farnsworth.”

“Fine then. Why are you calling me?”

Helena held up the pocket watch chain. “I found this during my travels. I think it might be part of a bifurcated artifact. One that could possibly save the Warehouse and Myka.”

The man perked up.

“Oh, interested in what I have to say now, are we?” A little bit of Helena’s ire slipped out. She quickly toned it down. “Anyway, I think the other half might be the pocket watch you have. I need to know about what it does to make sure this will work and how to activate them.”

Artie nodded. “I’ll search the Warehouse database, give me a sec.” He glanced back at the computer screen and started to type something in. A few seconds of waiting and he turned back to Helena.

“It looks like the pocket watch I have originally belonged to Sir Isaac Newton. The Warehouse acquired it not long after his death. After that they figured out that the pocket watch could potentially be able to resurrect the Warehouse in the most dire of circumstances. Pandora’s box being destroyed dire circumstances.”

Helena’s eyes widened. “But it wasn’t destroyed, was it?”

Artie shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. Barely. It says that the pocket watch may or may not work otherwise. It hasn’t been tested. But it says here the more severe the damage is to the world the more likely it is to work. Something to do with every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction.”

“Physics. It all comes back to physics,” Helena muttered to herself.

“What?”

Helena shook her head. “Nothing, Artie. I’ll be on the first plane I can back to South Dakota. We’ll see if reuniting the chain and watch will do anything. It’s worth a try.”

Artie nodded and Helena’s screen went blank.

She put the Farnsworth carefully back in Myka’s bag. Well, she supposed she needed to call the airport and set up her return trip. As soon as possible would probably be best, but she didn’t move towards the phone.

She had a piece that might fit something things together. Physics. They had found the pen at Stanford in the physics lecture hall. It had been an older, fancier pen, one that a professor might have owned. A professor had started the pen drawer. The pen was probably theirs. What if it did somehow had to tie into physics? It had to. But the version of physics Helena knew didn’t tie into this at all. There had been many an advance while she was bronzed. Had physics really gone so far in a hundred years that it could explain what was happening to them? There was only one person she could ask. Myka. And for that, she needed to be asleep.

Helena bit her lip. The call to the airport could wait until the morning. As late as it was she figured it wouldn’t get her much of anywhere to call tonight anyway.

She changed quickly into her pjs and laid down, willing for sleep to overtake her. It came, slowly and grudgingly, sinking her into the world of dreams.

 

 


	23. Chapter 23

Myka floated forever and an instant in the darkness. It was soothing. Painless. Everything she wanted it to be. She could stay there forever.

But the world wasn’t going to let her. She felt herself being pulled towards something. The darkness around her grew steadily lighter. The light hurt. She didn’t want to go. Didn’t want to leave her cocoon. Nothing could possibly be worth leaving the painless environment.

She felt arms around her, a warm body up against hers. She started to cry. This was her own form of torture, every night her dreams would haunt her showing her what she couldn’t have. Oh god, how she wished she could descend into blackness again. She didn’t want Helena’s arms around her. Not like this.

Myka tore herself out of Helena’s arms and walked out onto the balcony. This was as far as her dream would let her get. There was no door to the rest of the hotel. Only the door to the balcony and the one of the bathroom. It seemed like her mind wanted her to be as tormented as possible.

“Myka?” came Helena’s voice from the other room.

She didn’t answer. Desperate was her hope that Helena wouldn’t find her. But it was small room. And she knew that Helena wouldn’t stop until she found her.

A second later Helena stuck her head out of the door. “Oh there you are Myka. I wondered-” She stopped short when she saw the tears running down Myka’s cheeks. “Darling what’s the matter?”

Helena was at her side in a second. She took Myka’s face in her hands and wiped away the tears with her thumbs. Myka tried to jerk her face back. She didn’t need comfort from some strange dream. She just needed to find a way back into the darkness.

“Myka, what is wrong? What happened?”

She shook her head.

“Are you hurt? Did something go wrong during the artifact hunt? What? Darling, I just want to help you.”

The tender, soothing tones of Helena’s voice broke Myka even further. Tears started flowing down her cheeks faster than Helena could wipe them away. The author pulled her into a hug.

“Myka, baby, whatever it is I will fix it. You just have to tell me,” Helena whispered into Myka’s ear.

She buried her face into Helena’s neck and sobbed. “How can you fix it Helena, you’re dead. You’re dead and the stupid pocket watch didn’t work. I can’t bring you back. I can’t save you. You are my problem. I love you too much to let you go, but I have to.” She dissolved into incoherent sounds of anguish.

Helena hugged her harder, rocking slightly from side to side. “Myka, I’m not dead, at least where I am. I think the pen we found at Stanford has something to do with this, and I think its artifact abilities have something to do with physics, but I’m not well versed enough in modern physics to know what. These dreams are tied into it too, as well as the dreams we had before, of each of us saving the Warehouse to save the other. Do you know anything about physics that could maybe tie these things together?”

Myka snorted. “If I did would it matter?

Helena pulled back so she could look into her eyes. “Myka,” she stopped for a second just to stare into the other woman’s eyes. “I know you just had your last hope ripped out from under you. I know it’s almost impossible to let yourself hope after that. That it’s just better to become cynical and deny that anything good ever happens, but Myka good things can happen. You can have hope. You have to have hope, because without it you descend into this sort of madness that won’t let you go until you let yourself hope again. I won’t let you descend into that madness. I don’t care if I have to cross universes to prevent you from taking the road I did after Christina. I absolutely refuse to let it happen.”

Myka stared at Helena, enraptured. The tears had stopped flowing down her cheeks without her notice. She never had seen Helena look quite so beautiful as she had just a moment ago. Her face had lit up in a strange new way while she had been speaking, face glowing with passion, conviction, and love.

“Helena…” she whispered. Part of her wanted to give in, to let her be persuaded by this dream version of Helena to hope again. But the other side was powerful, blackness licked at the edges of her mind. She didn’t know if she was truly strong enough to fend off the blackness again. She had managed when Sam had died, but just barely. Helena’s death was so much worse.

“Myka, listen to me.” Helena shook Myka lightly. “Don’t over think this. You can’t or you’ll just end up in the exact same place you started. Hope isn’t about thought, hope is about belief. Belief requires no thought. That’s why hope is so powerful. There needs to be no backing to hope. It just is.”

Myka’s hand came up to Helena’s face. It felt so real. How could a dream feel this real? She knew when she woke up she would still feel Helena’s skin under her, feel her thumbs on her cheeks, every place Helena touched in this dream would bear the mark of being touched. What dreams possibly could do such a thing?

She remembered her dream of the Warehouse blowing up, where she saved Helena not the other way around. She remembered feeling the fire on her skin. Remembered the feeling of death. If what this dream Helena said was true, it had played out exactly as in her dreams, just not in the world where Myka was.

…Not in the _universe_ where Myka was. The realization hit her like a freight train.

“Helena there is a branch of physics that could explain this. Oh my god, it’s so obvious why didn’t I think of it before?”

“What, Myka?”

“String theory, it’s supposed to be the unifying theory of everything basically, joining general relativity and quantum mechanics. Part of the theory is that there are eleven parallel universes right next to our own. There are other parts that say each major decision we make spins off into a new world where we made the opposite decision that we did. Some of those worlds reunite, because regardless of the decision we made the outcomes were more or less the same. Right now we could be in different universes from the one we were originally in. Oh my god, Stanford wasn’t a dream, was it? Oh my god, that pen in the physics lecture hall! It’s got something to do with this, doesn’t it? What if we find it again in our respective universes? Do you think it would take us home?” Myka was practically jumping with excitement.

“I honestly don’t know. Perhaps we should ask Artie? He might be able to do some research based on the characteristics we give him. If nothing pops up, it can’t hurt to go after the pen. I mean it was making college students disappear.” Helena smiled. Myka was back from the brink.

Myka hugged Helena again, hard. “Oh my god! Helena, if this works out we’ll be back in a universe where nothing went wrong! The Warehouse will be fine. We’ll be together. Everything will be perfect.”

Helena didn’t know if she had ever seen Myka this giddy.

“Yes, that will be quite perfect.” Helena drew back from Myka enough to kiss her.

Myka’s head might as well have exploded. So many feelings and sensations coursed through her. Somehow this was even more intense than the kiss in the dream last night, and she had been completely naked.

Myka gasped into the kiss as the realization hit her. If there were parallel universes and her and Helena were in two different universes, these were more than dreams. Somehow their minds were still connected across space and time, if only while they were asleep. And if that were true the dreams were real in a sense. And that meant Helena had seen her naked last night.

Her cheeks heated to near nuclear levels. She pulled back from the kiss, breathing heavily.

Helena noticed her blood red cheeks. “What’s the matter, love?” The predatory glint in Helena’s eyes was slightly terrifying.

“Oh, nothing I was just thinking that these dreams are linking us between universes, and I don’t really know how string theory applies to that.”

Helena smiled slowly. “Some people are linked no matter what. Is that really _all_ you were thinking of?”

Myka nodded, a bit too enthusiastically for it to be the truth.

“Pardon me, darling, if I don’t believe you.”

Myka’s blush deepened.

“Come now, tell me.”

“It’s just-I-um-well…” Myka trailed off.

“Could it possibly have something to do with last night’s dream? Perhaps you were thinking something along the lines of ‘if the dreams are real then Helena saw me naked?’”

Myka flicked her eyes away from Helena unintentionally.

Helena started to laugh, musically, wonderfully. She leaned in to whisper in Myka’s ear. “Don’t worry darling, I plan to see you naked on more than one occasion. I dare say it shall be common place.” She nibbled on Myka’s ear lobe.

A shiver travelled down Myka’s spine. This woman could affect her like no one else.

Helena’s mouth started to travel down her neck, teeth and tongue working something close to magic. Myka melted into her touch, her face heating now from something completely different from embarrassment. Helena’s teeth found her pulse point and she gasped. Oh god, she wished she could stay in this dream forever.

She tangled her hands in Helena’s black as night hair, pulling the woman’s mouth up to her own. Helena’s tongue dove hungrily inside her mouth, exploring, teasing, and generally turning Myka’s brain to mush. She felt Helena’s hands slide up to cup her breasts and she moaned into Helena’s mouth.

God she was on fire.

A thumb caressed her nipple through the thin night shirt she was wearing. Myka arched into the contact. She wanted more. Needed more. She needed Helena like she needed no one else.

One of Helena’s hand slipped under her night gown, caressing her overheated skin lightly. Oh god, she needed to touch Helena’s skin. Her hands slipped from the woman’s hair and down to the hem of the woman’s short night dress. Her hands slid under the silky material to touch softer skin. She moaned again. Helena cut off the sound, biting her lip.

Myka’s hands moved to rest of Helena’s bare waist, content for now to just be touching bare skin. God, if she didn’t cool down soon she might explode. Helena tugged her night gown up even father, revealing the smooth skin of Myka’s stomach.

Myka broke the kiss and yanked off the night shirt. It was only getting in the way. Helena looked her up and down, expression resembling that of a wolf looking at her prey. The way Helena’s eyes traveled her body, though, didn’t make her feel like a piece of meat. Standing there in only her underwear, she felt beautiful.

Helena hesitated a minute. “Are you sure of this Myka,” she asked huskily.

“More than anything.”

Helena was back to touching her within a second, shoving her up against the wall. Myka barely felt the rough wall behind her, all that mattered was Helena’s touch. A hand wrapped in her curls, pulling enough just to be on the pleasant side of pain. The other was back teasing her nipple. Myka found herself unable to think anymore.

She didn’t notice the world around them start to fade. The balcony faded to blackness, the wall fading from behind her, none of it registered. Not until Helena’s body started to fade from hers did she notice anything. She opened her eyes just in time to see Helena mouth “Bloody hell!” before disappearing completely.

 

Myka woke in her hotel in Marseilles with a frustrated scream.

 


	24. Chapter 24

Helena awoke, a pout fixed on her face. Well that just wasn’t fair, not allowing them to finish like that. She pressed her legs together to alleviate some of her arousal. It didn’t do much.

Helena ran a hand through her hair. She supposed counting on a dream to give them enough time to do what they wished had been sort of a bad plan, but then again she didn’t regret anything. The lesson was learned for next time. She would just have to wait until Myka was corporeally back in her arms. How frustrating.

Helena got up and took a cold shower. That took care of most everything physical. She wished she could say the same thing for mental, but there were other things to take care of that. She had things to do. She still had to call the airport and arrange her flight back home. That would take her mind off of other, more pleasurably frustrating things.

She walked back out to the other room in her towel and sat down on the edge of the bed to make the call. The people at the French airport were significantly less helpful than the woman she had dealt with back in Illinois, but that was par for the course. She ended up with a flight time that would just give her enough time to get to the gate is she left Marseilles on the next train which was in a half hour.

She stood up, toweling off her hair quickly before dropping the towel to the floor. She gathered her stuff in a hurry, pulling on clothes in the process. Five minutes later she was ready to go, still wet hair creating wet spots on her blouse. She frowned. She hated looking anything less than put together. At least when was in her right mind, anyway.

She walked out the door, and down into the lobby. She put her key onto the desk. The old man looked up at her.

“Leaving already?” he asked.

“I found what I was looking for. I have to get it back to my mother as soon as possible.” She smiled brightly.

The man cocked his head, like he didn’t quite believe her. His lips turned up in a knowing smile, but he took the key and said, “I hope she’s very happy that you managed to find whatever it is after all these years.”

“I’m sure she will be. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. If you’re ever in Marseilles again be sure to stop by.”

Helena nodded. “I shall keep that in mind.”

 

She jogged quickly to the train station, her and Myka’s bags pounding against her back. She managed to catch the train but just barely. When she was settled in she took out Myka’s Farnsworth again and dialed Artie.

“Are you on your way back?” Artie asked.

“Why hello to you too, Artie. And yes, I am on my way back. I’m on the train from Marseilles right now.”

“Good. When’s your flight back?”

“Let’s put it this way, I have enough time to clear security, but only barely.”

“Even better.”

“But Artie, I had another reason for calling other than telling you my travel plans. This is going to sound odd, but I suppose no odder than most things that go on at the Warehouse. Artie, I believe I’ve been the victim of an artifact, one that deals with some quite complicated physics.”

“What makes you think this?”

“The fact that I wasn’t a part of this world until the Warehouse exploded. I thought it was time travel for the longest time, but, as I have learned, events do not change in time travel. In the world I came from the Warehouse did not blow up. We managed to save everything by wrapping the bomb in Gandhi’s dhoti.”

“Wait, Gandhi’s dhoti? That wouldn’t…” Artie trailed off as confusion turned to understanding. “How did you know that would work?”

“I quite forget who suggested it. It was understandably a high stress event. I think it was either you or Myka. I remember Pete was too busy going at the bomb with a blow torch to be much on the critical thinking side of things.”

“Sounds like him.”

“As I recall he was doing the same thing in this world. But anyway, when I was transported Myka and I were on a mission at Stanford. A group of college students had disappeared without a trace. We traced everything back to the physics lecture hall, where we found a pen. When we touched it both Myka and I got sick almost immediately. We ended up fainting and when I woke up I was in this world, with the Warehouse about to blow. It took me this long just figure out what exactly what was happening and that perhaps they could be fixed. Myka and I think that perhaps if we can find the pen again we might be able to return to our original world.”

Artie typed in a few things to the computer in front of him. “Do you know anything else about the artifact?”

“Myka said it probably had something to do with string theory I think it was. I’m not entirely sure about the new branches of physics.”

Artie nodded. “I’ll look into it, see if I can find anything. In the meantime get here so we can try the pocket watch and chain and see if we can make everything right in this world.”

Helena frowned. “From what I understood from Myka it didn’t work where she is.”

Artie scowled. “Well, we won’t be sure about how it works in this one until we try.”

Helena nodded. “Fair enough.”

The screen went dark before she could say another word.  

 


	25. Chapter 25

Myka let the cold water run over her. It was definitely not what she wanted to be running over her right now. She shivered at the memory of Helena’s hands on her skin. Or perhaps it really was just the water. She was quite cold.

She shut off the water and stepped out of the tub. She walked out to the bedroom and sat on her bed in just a towel. What was she going to do now? She had to tell Artie, but she knew she had heard her rambling about being whammied by an artifact before and thought she had just been a little off from the explosion. How was she supposed to prove that she hadn’t been rambling crazily?

She bit her lip. It wasn’t going to seem like she was quite stable now either considering yesterday. This was not going to be easy. She sighed heavily.

Helena was worth all of this though. She would find a way to prove to Artie that she wasn’t crazy, somehow. If she couldn’t, well she would just try to find the pen on her own. She would start at Stanford again and branch out from there. Whatever it took until she was back with Helena.

And then the end of a dream wouldn’t ruin everything.

She sighed again and started to get ready for the day.

Pete knocked on her door an hour later. “Mykes?” she heard through the door. “Are you up?”

She walked over and opened the door. “Obviously,” she said once they were face to face.

Pete looked surprised for a second before he managed to school his face into a better expression. “Oh, well Artie wants to leave soon. He said we should be back at the B&B to try and look for other solutions for getting the Warehouse back.”

Myka nodded. “Ok, I’m almost ready to go.” Pete turned to go. “And Pete.” He turned around to face Myka again. “Thanks for helping me back yesterday,” she said softly.

His face softened. “No problem, Mykes.”

He walked back down the hall and into his own room.

Myka started shoving her stuff back into her bag. She could be such a slob when she wasn’t paying attention. She found one of her socks under the bed. She didn’t even understand how that had happened, but she just threw the sock in with the rest of her stuff and shrugged. There were more important things to solve right now.

Another knock on her door stopped her packing. She walked over and opened the door to find Artie.

“Hi Artie,” she said.

“Myka, you’re looking…better.”

“Yeah.” Myka thought about adding more, about trying to discuss the pen again with Artie, but something held her tongue.

“Are you going to be ok?”

She nodded. “I’ll be fine, Artie. When are we leaving?”

“Are you done packing?”

“I’ve got a few things more to go, shouldn’t take me more than few minutes.”

Artie nodded. “Then we’ll leave as soon as you and Pete are done packing.”

Myka noticed Artie’s bag at his feet. “Ok Artie.” She paused a second before asking, “Artie, are you ok? That thing yesterday with McPherson…well you seemed almost as upset as I was.”

Artie slipped a hand into his jacket pocket, no doubt to caress the pocket watch. “I’ll be fine, Myka. I lost James a long time ago. It just took me by surprise, that hologram. Some things never do quite stop hurting, but you get through it and it eventually hurts less. There are just things that set it to hurting again.”

Myka looked at the older man sympathetically. She wanted to hug him, but didn’t think Artie would take too kindly to the gesture. Instead she settled for patting his arm gently.

“It does get better Myka.” He looked her in the eyes.

“I know Artie. Sometimes it’s just a little hard to see that in the heat of the moment, especially when you have hope of being able to bring them back.”

Artie nodded. “Get to packing. We don’t want to miss our train,” he said gruffly before picking up his bag and walking down the stairs towards the lobby.

Myka stared after him. She couldn’t decide if telling him now was going to be easier or harder after that little speech. She shut her door slowly and went back to packing.

 

A few minutes later she was down in the lobby waiting for Pete with Artie. Nervous butterflies filled her stomach. She was sure she would feel this way around Artie until she managed to bring herself to tell him about the dreams. She hated not being completely in control.

She pursed her lips. Perhaps there was something she could do to make everything go more smoothly. Maybe she could research the pen without Artie’s help and then bring him the results of her search. If she found some sort of proof that what she was saying was true, they couldn’t think her crazy. Crazier things happened on a daily basis at the Warehouse. If only she hadn’t broken down so many times before they might believe her without all the research.

Her teeth worried her lip. It didn’t matter now. She would be back at the B&B soon enough with what was left of the Warehouse records. Everything would work out soon enough.

She hoped.

 

The trip back was long, but it didn’t quite annoy her as much. There were no crying babies, no fat old men trying to shove a chair in her solar plexus. She hadn’t had such a mundane trip in a very long time.

Back home, she set to work immediately. She searched through files and entered what she knew into the Warehouse search engines. Thank god Claudia had been working on restoring what had been lost in the Warehouse explosion and thank god for the backup files too. She didn’t know what she would have done without everything. It was hard enough finding what she wanted with them.

She didn’t know who owned the pen, she didn’t quite know what it did other than it had something to do with transferring people between universes. She wasn’t sure what exactly what else it did, whether the dreams were actually part of how the artifact worked or if they were just something special that she and Helena brought to the table. The only thing she was absolutely sure of was that it was a pen, owned by some physics professor.

She weeded through hundreds of entries, reading them, discarding them after she hit more than one characteristic that didn’t fit. She worked for hours. She felt her eyelids slowly slipping shut. She jerked awake. She couldn’t go to sleep yet. She had to find the pen. She had to…

 

She woke up drooling on the files. Myka sat bolt upright. Oh god, she had fallen asleep. A paper stuck to her face. She pulled a sheet off that had stuck to her forehead. She sighed. It was yet another that she hadn’t read. She ran a hand through her curls. She wasn’t going to get much done if she was hungry, tired, and unfocused. She would fix all those things and she would come back.

Her eyes scanned the lines of the paper she had pulled off her face. A few words caught her attention and she started to read closely. She reached the end and jumped up out of her seat.

“Artie!” she shouted running out of the dining room, socked feet almost causing her to slip as she turned towards the living room.

“What Myka?” Artie walked out into the hallway.

Myka skidded to a stop, flailing her arms to balance her. “I found something you need to see.” She held out the paper.

Artie took it from her and read it. He looked up at Myka after he was done. “Are you trying to tell me what I think you’re trying to tell me?”

“If you think that I’m telling you that I think that the dreams are real, then yes.”

“Myka are you sure? Are you sure you aren’t just trying too hard to make something out of nothing?”

“Artie, I’m sure.” She looked him dead in the eye, challenging him not to believe her.

“Myka…” he said softly.

“No Artie, don’t Myka me. I know it wasn’t a dream. I was almost convinced it was, almost, but I know it’s real now. And it’s not because I found that paper, no I believed before that. Artie, you know those things that no matter what happens you believe are true? This is one of them. What can it hurt to try and follow this? If nothing else we have a potentially dangerous artifact out of the way.”

Artie scowled. “I suppose. You said at one point it was making college students disappear. That’s worth preventing. Fine. Go. Go to, Stanford was it? And take Pete with you. Bring back Edward Witten’s pen and we’ll go from there.”

Myka nodded and turned to go back. Artie’s phone went off, playing “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” Claudia had set the ringtone and Artie had yet to figure out how to change it back. It seemed that the techie had erased all the menu options that would’ve led to the screen to change it.

Myka kept walking, grinning.

She heard Artie flip open his phone and read the text message. “Myka,” he called out just as she hit the stairs.

She turned. “What Artie?”

“Don’t take Pete. There’s been a ping in London at a gentlemen’s club. It’s a job for two. Take Claudia instead. And keep an eye on her. She’s in enough trouble as it is.” Artie’s face grew darker.

“What? When did Claudia get in trouble?”

“While we were in France. She decided to take the metronome and bring Steve back to life, against orders. Pete’s mother intervened, but ended up allowing it without the consent of the other regents. Needless to say both of them are on short leashes for the time being. I don’t want the regents to think something more drastic must be done. This needs to be a clean snag, bag, and tag for her. Can you handle that?”

“Yes, Artie. It’ll be fine. I know exactly what we’re looking for and exactly where it is. We’ll be back here by this time tomorrow.”

Artie nodded. “Good.” He turned toward the living room and called for Pete. Myka was dismissed.

She climbed the stairs and knocked on Claudia’s door.

“What Artie? Come to yell at me again? I’m still not sorry, you know. I SAVED Jinxy’s life. Why should I be sorry about that?”

“It’s not Artie. It’s Myka.”

She heard the girl jump off her bed and walk towards the door. The red head opened the door a second later. “Oh, hey Myka. Sorry, Old Man Grump has been a little more of a grump than usual.”

“So I’ve heard. I seemed to have missed everything until just now.”

Claudia nodded. “You were doing research during most of it and sleeping the rest. What were you looking so hard for? I don’t think the Warehouse blowing up all over again could’ve distracted you.”

“It’s what we’re going after now. Get packed, we’re going to Stanford.”

Claudia arched an eyebrow. “McGrumpy Pants said no more field work for me until the end of time or until all the inventory for the whole Warehouse is done once it’s back, whatever comes first.”

“Yeah, well he needed Pete for a mission in London and I’m not so sure he trusts me to go alone right now, so you get to go with me.”

“But why doesn’t he trust you? I mean out of all of us you’re probably the most capable of going it alone. You’re Myka.”

“It’s a long story Claud. I’ll tell you on the way. Get packed.”

Claudia nodded and stepped back inside her room.

 

Myka walked to her own room and grabbed up her still packed bag. She had thrown it in her room upon arriving before immediately setting to work in the dining room. She withdrew the dirty clothes from inside and quickly repacked fresh new ones. In less than five minutes she was back downstairs awaiting the younger agent. Myka paced the hall. She supposed she should be used to waiting for everyone else. It seemed to happen to her perpetually. Still, it didn’t make her any less fidgety.

Claudia thumped down the stairs a few minutes later. “Ready?” she asked.

Myka nodded and headed towards the door. Once settled into the car and on their way Myka decided to ask a question that had tugged at her mind since Artie had told her Steve had been resurrected.

“So where is Steve? I mean I know I was pretty concentrated on those files, but I think even I would’ve noticed a dead man walking around the house.”

Claudia winced. “He’s with the Regents. They’re making sure the artifact didn’t affect him in some horrible way. They want to make sure they don’t have another Marcus walking around the Warehouse freely, or so they said.” She shrugged. “For all I know they could be stringing him up by his toes or something. The only reason I’m not trying to break him out at this very instant is because Jinxy asked me to let them do their job. I couldn’t exactly deny him anything he wanted after everything, you know?”

Myka glanced over at the younger agent. Claudia’s eyes stared blankly out the window, her hands clasped so hard they were white. Myka reached out with her free hand and settled it atop the other agents. She squeezed gently.

Oh, she knew alright. She knew everything the girl was going through first hand. Stopping at nothing to get the person they loved back. It may have been different types of love, but it was there and it was strong. The strongest driving force a person could ever experience.

“It’s ok, Claud. He’ll be back. Everything is going to be ok.”

She felt Claudia’s hands relax slightly under hers.

“Thanks Myka.”

They rode a while in silence. Myka eventually had to remove her hand to navigate a particularly sharp turn, but she felt that the red head had gotten the point. Myka was there for her. She understood.

“Why wouldn’t Artie trust you to go out on your own?” Claudia asked quietly.

Myka swallowed. She figured this would follow. “I think he believes I’m not far away from a psychotic break.”

Claudia whipped her head around to stare at Myka. “What? I know a little something about crazy, and you’re nowhere near it.”

Myka smiled slightly. “I’m not sure you would say that if you had been with us in France or even with us at the Warehouse when it blew. Trust me, I understand where he’s coming from and while it’s frustrating, it’s deserved. I think he’s only trying to protect me.”

“Wait, what happened?”

She sighed and launched into the story, telling Claudia everything, not just the bare minimum Artie had gotten. From the time she had woken from that final dream of the Warehouse blowing up until she had gotten back to the B&B from France. Well, she did leave out a few key parts about the dreams, but mostly everything. She felt better getting it all off her chest.

 Claudia stayed silent through the whole thing, nodding to show she was still listening, until Myka was done. Her face had stayed blank throughout the story, worrying Myka a little, but she had kept on talking anyway. Once she started she found that she couldn’t stop.

When she was done Claudia spoke up after a few seconds of silence. “So you love H.G.?”

“I do. A lot. It’s almost scary how much.”

Claudia nodded. “Then let’s go get that pen so you two can be together.”

Myka smiled warmly at the younger agent. “Thanks, Claud.”

Claudia returned the smile. “No problem.” She snorted. “I guess I do win the bet with Pete.”

“Bet?” It was Myka’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Pete and I made a bet a year or so back when H.G. first started showing up on whether you two would end up together. Pete said no way. I said you guys would. I guess I was right, even if I’m not right in this universe.”

Myka glared at Claudia, but her heart wasn’t in it and it had no real threat. “Of course there would be a bet about that.” Myka laughed. “You two.” She shook her head.

“What? I’ll split the profits with you fifty-fifty.”

Myka shook her head. “No, enjoy your spoils, if you can get Pete to fork over the money. He probably figured that if he was wrong at least he’d get to watch two women making out to make up for it.”

Claudia grinned. “Probably. And I have my ways of getting my money. I’ll stop stocking the Pete cave with cream soda. Provided we ever get the Pete cave and the Warehouse back, anyway.”

“We will Claud, we will.”

An expression that Myka couldn’t quite read flashed across Claudia’s face. It was gone before she could really understand it.

“Yeah, we will.”

 

They rode the rest of the way to airport in companionable silence. The flight was uneventful as well. Myka dosed off for a few minutes, but wasn’t rewarded with a dream with Helena. Both of them probably had to be asleep, at least for the ones where they were both in that in between world.

Myka remembered the first dream she had with Helena in it, being that odd disembodied voice as Helena had barreled down the road in her SUV crying. She had never discussed that dream with Helena. As far as she knew the author still thought that dream a figment of her grieving imagination. Perhaps that had been why she had been drawn to Helena even though she hadn’t been asleep. Maybe her intense emotional state had drawn her consciousness across the gap of universes. It all sounded incredibly cheesy, incredibly romantic, and incredibly just like a normal day at the Warehouse.

They arrived in San Francisco and wasted no time driving to Stanford. This time Myka didn’t have to drive a dinky little car. She got the SUV that she wanted. Yet, she sort of missed the Mini Cooper, if only for the laughter it had provided Helena.

They walked onto Stanford’s campus, and straight to the Physics lecture hall. Myka flashed her badge to the professor who was in the middle of lecture. While the professor was distracted Claudia slipped over to the drawer and looked for the pen Myka had described. She dug around quickly, but didn’t see the one she was looking for. After a few more seconds of looking, she stopped looking.

Claudia tapped Myka on the shoulder. When Myka turned to look at her she shook her head. Myka scowled.

“Excuse me professor, my partner Miss Donovan will continue questioning you about the physics students believed to have a terrorist plot against the president.”

She felt more than saw Claudia’s ‘what the hell look,’ but she disregarded it. The girl was creative. She’d figure out something.

Myka rushed over to the drawer and scrabbled through it. The pen wasn’t there. It. Wasn’t. There. Where the hell was it? She ran her hand through the drawer again. Fuck.

She walked back over to Claudia who was enlightening the professor on just how students could take the lessons he taught and apply them to terrorist plots. The professor looked sufficiently horrified. Myka stopped Claudia’s little spiel midway through a sentence.

“Miss Donovan I take it you’ve gotten all the useful information you can out of this fine educator?”

Claudia nodded. “I have.”

“Good. We’ll be going now professor. If we have any more questions we’ll come to you. Hopefully, not in the middle of lecture next time. We’re dreadfully sorry about that, but you know the life of Secret Service agent waits for no man.”

With that Myka and Claudia swept from the room. Once the door was closed behind them Claudia turned to her.

“Physics student terrorist plot? That’s what you came up with?” Claudia shook her head. “I take it that Pete does most of the lying when you guys are on missions.”

“What? I thought it was perfectly valid.”

Claudia stared at her. “Right. Anyway, did you find the pen?”

Myka shook her head. “No. It wasn’t there. I don’t know where else it could be.” She bit her lip hard.

Claudia pursed her lips. “You said you knew whose pen it was right?”

Myka nodded. “Edward Witten’s, why?”

“Well that gives us some place to start searching, doesn’t it? We aren’t going back to the Warehouse without that pen.”

 


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a horrible, horrible, rotten, no good, yellow bellied person, I know. I grovel for everyone's mercy. If any of you are still with me after almost a year, praise you, you patient super awesome person you. I have good news though. There won't be any gaps anymore. I made a new year's resolution to write a 1000 words a day, and consequently this story is less than ten thousand words from being finished now. Also good news, it's gonna come in at over 100k, maybe over 110k, words and somewhere near 50 chapters. So. More Myka and Helena for all. Bad news, it's not going to be on the same posting schedule as it was a year ago. It should be updated about once a week still, but not twice. But hey, regular updates guys. It's progress.

Helena walked back into the B&B just as the sun was starting to rise. She sucked in a breath. This was one place she never expected to see again. It was so very surreal.

Even on the trip back she hadn’t quite believed that she was going back to place where this had all started. Now that she was here she felt as if Myka should be running down the stairs and into her arms. She closed her eyes. That image hurt her more than it should. It would happen soon enough. She would just have to find that pen and all would be right in her world again.

She climbed the stairs quietly and let herself into her room. The residents of the B&B weren’t going to awaken for a few more hours yet. Helena hoped to grab a quick nap before then. She was quite exhausted. She had been so excited during her travels she hadn’t rested on neither the train ride nor the plane. Helena had been ok even once she had landed in Chicago, but the drive back to South Dakota had become a struggle about half way through.

She collapsed into her bed, not bothering to change into pjs and immediately fell asleep.

 

There was a knock on her door a few hours later. She managed to peel herself from her bed and stumble over to the door. Helena opened it to find Artie standing with his hand raised to knock again.

“Good morning Artie.” She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

“When did you get in?” he asked.

“A few hours ago. I decided to take a nap instead of wake anyone up. I was quite tired. I still am quite tired.” She dug in her pocket and tugged out the pocket watch chain. “But I did not forget about this.”

Artie took the chain and attached it to the pocket watch. The face briefly changed over to a spinning red arrow, before fading back to a pocket watch face. Both of them stared at it a few seconds longer, but nothing more happened.

“Do you suppose it worked?” Helena asked, running a hand through her sleep disheveled hair.

Artie shrugged. “I’m not sure. I suppose there really is only one way to know for sure.”

The older man turned and walked down the hall and out of the B&B before Helena found the brain power to react. She leaned against the door frame debating on what to do. It was quite obvious that she had the mental capacity of a flea right now. She should probably return to bed for a few more hours of sleep before truly getting up for the day. Yet, she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Leena was brewing a pot of coffee when she entered the room. Helena inhaled the earthy aroma. The innkeeper smiled at the author.

“Would you like a cup? You look like you could use it.”

Helena nodded. She was much too tired to care what form her caffeine took at this instant. Leena handed her a cup when the pot was done and she sipped it slowly, feeling more awake as her cup emptied in little sips.

Artie walked back in the B&B when Helena’s coffee mug was half way empty. He shook his head. Helena shrugged. That had been the outcome she’d been expecting.

Artie shuffled over to the small kitchen table and flopped down, looking more than a little defeated. “I really did hope that would bring it back.” He sighed. “Oh well, the search continues.”

He got up again and headed for the dining room where he had seemed to have set up shop.

“What was that about?” Leena asked after Artie had left the room.

“An artifact we thought might bring back the Warehouse didn’t.” Helena shrugged again. A pang went through her as the innkeeper’s face fell slightly.

“Oh.”

Helena pursed her lips. She felt quite terrible all of a sudden that she had an almost guaranteed happy ending, but the inhabitants of this world did not. Perhaps she could help fix that before she left. It might mean longer away from Myka, though. She weighed her options carefully.

She pushed off the counter, her decision made. Helena hoped Myka understood. She walked into the dining room and sat down across from Artie.

“What can I do to help?”

Artie looked up at her. “Go to Stanford and find the pen.” The ‘duh’ at the end of the sentence was heavily implied.

“I’m quite aware of that particular mission, Artie. I meant what can I do to help restore the Warehouse.

“Why does it matter? The Warehouse wherever you’re from didn’t blow up. As soon as you get the pen you’ll be home without a care in the world.”

“Yes, well, I’d like to help you. Contrary to your belief, Arti,e I do have a conscious. I do not want to leave you in the middle of a crisis yet another pair of hands down.”

Artie regarded her carefully for a few moments before nodding. “Alright, I admit we could use everyone we’ve got for this. However, I do think that the pen warrants priority. The Warehouse isn’t going to be a threat to public safety. If what you say is true, this pen might be a threat if it’s active. Take Claudia with you and go to Stanford and get the pen. Then you can come back and help with the search for something to save the Warehouse.”

Helena nodded. “Thank you, Artie.”

She stood up and started to leave the room.

“And H.G.”

She turned towards him again.

“Be gentle on Claudia. Losing Steve…she’s not exactly the bubbly, annoying red head we all know.”

“I understand Artie.”

The old man nodded before looking down at the table in front of him.

Helena made her way upstairs into her room once again, slowly repacking her bag with clean clothes. She picked up Myka’s bag from where she had dropped it earlier that morning and tucked it away in her closet. She didn’t need to take it with her to Stanford, but she wasn’t quite ready to part with it completely.

When she was done she walked out into the hall and knocked on Claudia’s door. When a few minutes went by without answer she knocked again. Again the door remained closed.

“Claudia, darling?” she asked. “Are you quite alright?”

She finally heard rustling from inside. Claudia opened the door a minute later. The young woman looked absolutely horrid. Helena wanted to reached out and wrap her in a hug, but wasn’t quite sure that would go over too well.

“H.G. you’re back,” she said in a flat tone. “Why?”

“I found something I thought might be able to save the Warehouse, but sadly, it did not. That, however, is not the only reason.”

“You took off and just left us, H.G.” Anger tinged the girl’s voice.

“That I did. And I didn’t have any inclination to come back. This place is too painful. It reminded me far too much of Myka for me to remain here.”

“You’re not the only one who lost Myka.” Claudia crossed her arms in front of her.

“I’m not. But I am far weaker than anyone else when I lose someone I love, especially someone I love as deeply as Myka.”

“What was this other reason? Did you come back for more of her stuff?” Claudia’s hands gripped her arms so hard they turned white.

“No,” Helena glanced down quickly. “Though I admit that was quite selfish of me.”

“You’re damn right it was selfish and you know what else-”

Helena interrupted her before she could go on. “The reason I came back is because I’ve been whammied, Claudia. I’m not from this world. It has something to do with an artifact dealing String Theory. In my world the Warehouse didn’t blow up and Myka is alive. We visit each other in our dreams every night. She was whammied by the same artifact. In the world she’s in now I died. We’re trying to find our way back home now. That is the second reason why I came back.”

“So you just get your happy ending while leaving us here with a blown up Warehouse?”

“No, I wouldn’t do that to you. I want to help save the Warehouse here.”

Claudia deflated a little, the anger seeping out of her. “Well, saving the Warehouse won’t save Jinksy.”

“They took the metronome away from you?”

Claudia nodded. “Artie has it hidden somewhere that I haven’t been able to find. That was how the Claudia in your world got him back?”

Helena nodded.

Claudia bit her lip hard. “Great.”

“Claudia, I know you have other things on your mind, but Artie wants you to come with me to fetch the artifact that whammied me here. I believe if I touch it again I’ll be sent home, but not before I help get the Warehouse back. I know Agent Jinks was your best friend, and that none of this will save him, but I believe he’d want the Warehouse to be saved, and before I can help you, Artie has said I must get the pen first.”

Claudia ran a hand through her hair, messing it even further. “Alright. I’ll be down in a few, H.G.”

“Thank you Claudia.”

She nodded and shut the door.

 

Half an hour later Claudia walked down the stairs, still looking shaky, but markedly better than she had before. She walked toward Helena with her bag slung over her shoulder.

“Let’s go before Old Man Grump decides to start yelling.”

Helena smiled weakly. “I’m not quite sure he has the energy to yell at this moment.”

Claudia snorted. “He always has the energy to yell, what are you talking about?”

“I suppose you have a point.” Helena shook her head and grabbed her keys. “Shall we?”

Claudia nodded and walked out the front door of the B&B.

 

She and Claudia retraced the steps her and Myka had made what seemed like such a long time ago. Claudia remained quiet for most of the way, staring out the window while Helena drove. She hadn’t even questioned Helena driving, she had just accepted it.

When they were on their way to the hotel in San Francisco, Claudia finally spoke up. “So you and Myka in the other world, you’re a thing?”

“Yes, well we haven’t exactly made everything official yet. We were in the process of that when we were whammied. Myka had just gotten up the courage to tell me that she had feelings for me the night before we found the pen. Quite bad timing, really.”

“There’s never a good time to get whammied.”

“Indeed.”

“Pete owes me money.”

“He owes me money as well.”

“You had a bet, too?” Claudia looked over at her, eyebrow cocked.

Helena nodded. “Of course, darling. I had to yank on his chain. What better way than to bet him that Myka would admit her feelings for me? He was quite convinced that it would never happen.”

“Same here.”

She smiled at Claudia. “It seems Pete is much the same in all of our worlds.”

The girl stayed silent for a little while after that.

“H.G.?”

“Yes, darling?”

“It was a good thing that I brought back Jinksy in the other world, right?”

“I believe so. There were a few…consequences to doing so in the beginning, but they were righted quickly. Agent Jinks in my world is now alive and fine without the help of an artifact.”

“Would you help me look for the metronome when we get back? I can’t—I just…He’s my best friend.”

“And you don’t want him to be dead if there’s a way to save him.”

Claudia nodded.

“I understand.” Helena thought for a few seconds. “If I come across the metronome you will be the first to know, Claudia.”

“Thank you,” Claudia replied in a small voice.

Nothing else was said. They arrived at the hotel and settled down for the night, waiting until the next morning to fetch the pen since they had arrived late in the evening. Helena slipped under the covers and hoped that another shared dream with Myka awaited as the darkness drug her under.

 


	27. Chapter 27

Myka and Claudia sat in a café in downtown San Francisco. Claudia was typing away furiously while Myka looked out the window, not really taking in the people passing by or the lovely view of the Golden Gate Bridge that the café had. Claudia picked up her coffee and took a sip. A thoughtful look crossed her face.

“So, in the other world you guys found this pen at a university Edward Witten worked at, right?”

“Well, yeah. We were just where we found the pen, Stanford.”

Claudia looked down at the screen in front of her. “What do you think would be the odds that the pen would be at another university that Witten worked at?”

Myka shrugged. “It’s possible, but it could literally be anywhere in this world. Artifacts aren’t exactly known to show up in places that make sense.”

Claudia nodded. “True that, but still Myka, it’s either that or checking out every house that he’s ever lived in, which trust me, it’s a _huge_ list. We could check through the list of universities he’s worked at before Old Man Grump even realizes that something is wrong.”

“What other universities has he worked at?”

“Princeton, Harvard, and Caltech. He also attended the University of Wisconsin and Brandeis University, but they have nothing to do with his physics research, so those probably aren’t where we should look first.”

“We’re closest to Caltech. We can fly there and be there in an hour.”

Claudia nodded and clicked dramatically on her lap top. “And now we have tickets on the next available flight. We take off in two hours.”

Myka frowned. “By the time we get there it’ll be too late to do anything.”

“I know, dude, but at least we’ll be there first thing tomorrow.”

Myka scowled. This was not going to plan in the slightest. She sighed. Warehouse missions never went to plan, especially when she needed them to.

“Don’t worry Mykes, we’ll get the pen soon and then you can be reunited with your lady love.” Claudia smiled at the older woman.

“Thanks Claud.”

The girl shrugged. “No problamo. I know if I was the one stuck in another universe you’d help me too.”

Myka snorted. “If you had told me when I joined the Secret Service that I wouldn’t find that sentence completely bonkers…” She shook her head.

“Yeah, well, welcome to the Warehouse.” Claudia smiled.

“And no matter what universe you’re in, the Warehouse brings a new meaning to the word weird.”

“Good to know some things stay constant,” the red head said, deadpan.

Myka laughed harder.

 

Three hours later they were in Pasadena, California in a slightly questionable hotel room. Claudia sat glued to her computer trying to find any leads on the pen in case Caltech didn’t pan out. Myka got ready for bed quickly, flopping down on her bed with only slight hesitation.

“Hoping to see H.G.?” Claudia asked looking up.

“Yeah, I’ve seen her pretty much every night since we’ve gotten here in some way or another. I’m hoping it keeps up.”

“Goodnight then, and tell H.G. hi for me.” 

“I will. I’m sure she’ll be pleased.”

Claudia smiled and went back to typing away.

Myka laid down and quickly slipped to sleep.

 

This time they weren’t in the room back in Marseilles. This time they were in the B&B. Myka awoke in her own room. Helena wasn’t in the immediate vicinity, but the other side of her bed was rumpled indicating that she was somewhere around. She heard rustling coming from downstairs and she followed the noise.

Helena was moving around the kitchen preparing a pot of tea. Myka leaned against the door frame and just watched her for a few moments. Helena was in her normal morning attire of sweats and a t-shirt, but the way the woman moved made them look like high fashion. Myka smiled, biting her lip lightly.

Helena turned around, face lighting up at seeing Myka. “Hello, darling.”

The accent sent a shiver down Myka’s spine. “Hello.” She stepped forward and pressed a kiss to the author’s lips.

“I could grow quite used to that,” Helena said when they pulled apart.

“Mmm, me too.”

“Would you like a cup of tea, darling?”

“You realize that this is a dream, right?” Myka cocked an eyebrow.

“That doesn’t mean one can’t enjoy a nice cup of tea.”

“Well, if you put it that way.”

“I can be very persuasive when I want to be.”

Helena finished brewing the tea, bringing two cups over to the small table where Myka had sat down. She laid out cream and sugar as well, knowing Myka didn’t prefer hers straight. The Brit stirred her tea pensively for a few minutes.

“What is it Helena?” Myka asked when she could stand it no longer.

Helena for once in her life looked nervous. “As you put it last night Myka, we get to go back to a world where the Warehouse was never destroyed. We get to leave the worlds behind that have had such a tragedy happen to them. And when we leave, we leave them yet another pair of hands down.”

“You don’t know that, Helena. I mean some other version of us had to be here before we were forced here by the pen.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t guarantee that they will come back when we leave, Myka.”

“What are you saying, Helena?”

“I want to restore the Warehouse in these other universes before we return to our own.”

Myka scrunched her eyes closed. She wanted to say no. She wanted to be selfish and return to her own world and pretend that none of this ever happened. But the people in this world were almost the same as the people who were waiting for her back home. She couldn’t leave them like this, high and dry with no hope. Helena was right.

“Ok, do you have any idea how we go about doing that?” she finally asked.

“No, we haven’t really started looking yet. Artie sent me off to find the pen before I was allowed to help them.”

Myka nodded. “Alright.” She put her head in her hands for a few seconds.

“Wait,” her head popped back up. “Did you say you were looking for the pen?”

“Yes, I believe that’s what I said just a few seconds ago.”

“It’s not at Stanford, at least it isn’t in this universe.”

“Ah, and what do you want to bet that it isn’t going to be at Stanford in my universe either?”

“I’d say the odds are pretty high. It’s never easy, is it?”

“No, I can’t say it is.”

Myka sighed. “I’d check there just to be thorough. Claudia and I are checking other institutions that Edward Witten worked at next. We’re going to Caltech tomorrow.”

“Edward Witten, that was the name of the man who owned the pen?”

“Yes.”

“I shall have to give that information to my own Claudia, see if she can turn up any other leads that the two of us might find useful.”

Myka nodded. “Two Claudias are better than one.” Myka brought her mug up and sipped her tea. It was too sweet now that it was cooler. She set it down and pushed it away.

Helena set down her own mug and walked over to Myka, caressing her face gently. “Myka, darling, I know you want to get back to our world, as do I, but this is the best for everyone.”

“I know, Helena, but it’s just hard to wake up without you, especially since we’re so close to finding our way back home. It hurts to delay being reunited with you in real life, not just reunited in these dreams.”

“I know, darling, but our reunion will be that much sweeter when we can look back and realize we’ve done the right thing in all our worlds.”

Myka nodded and cracked a watery smile. “Look who’s gone all noble on me.”

Helena returned the smile. “It seems you’ve been a good influence, Myka Bering.”

“I doubt it was my influence, you’ve always been a good person at heart.” Myka rested her hand on Helena’s chest. Helena’s heart beat strongly under her palm.

“I’m not so sure about that, but I shall take your word for it.” Helena leaned down and kissed her as the world around them started to fade.

 

 


	28. Chapter 28

Helena woke up slowly, savoring the lazy feeling of being warm and comfortable in a soft bed. She reached up and pressed her fingers to her lips, tracing them lightly. It was quite the shame that Myka wasn’t here to give her a good morning kiss, but the kisses they shared in the dreams felt real enough to suffice for now. Her lips were even swollen and kissed bruised. She quite wondered where the lines of reality really lay in the dreams if they had actual physical consequences.

She sat up, surveying the room. Claudia was still fast asleep on the other bed, red hair splayed out across the pillow in all directions. Even in sleep she looked weighed down by Agent’s Jinks’s death.

Helena sighed. She had a feeling today would not be very productive. Warehouse missions were never easy, she couldn’t imagine this one being any different. The pen wouldn’t be at Stanford again. No, that would be too accommodating of the universe. The luck of Warehouse agents seemed to be the same in every universe.

And yet, as sure as she was that the pen wasn’t at Stanford, she would have to check anyway. As soon as she headed for another university the pen would be at Stanford, it was Murphy’s Law. She ran a hand through her hair. It was all utterly frustrating. This was not what she wanted to be wasting time on at all.

She pushed herself out of bed and walked over to nudge Claudia. “Darling, it is morning. We need to get going soon.”

“Ok, H.G.,” Claudia mumbled sleepily. She stretched and sat up, rubbing her eyes.

“Claudia, what do you know about Edward Witten?”

Claudia looked at Helena, eyebrow cocked. “He’s like a god in the physics world. He’s one of the fathers of String Theory. Why?”

“That’s whose pen we’re going after. Myka imparted that knowledge to me last night during our shared dream.”

“You guys share dreams? You didn’t tell me that.”

“No, I suppose I didn’t. There was quite a lot of information to be conveyed in a short period of time, I guess that little tidbit was left out.”

Claudia nodded. “Alright.”

“Can you see what you can find out about him while I take a shower? I have a feeling that the pen won’t be at Stanford. It wasn’t in Myka’s world and I’m quite sure it won’t be here, either. Warehouse missions are problematic in all worlds it seems. So, I think that the information will come in handy sooner rather than later.”

“Will do, H.G.” She crawled to the end of the bed and grabbed her laptop bag, setting to work immediately.

“Thank you, Claudia.” Helena sent her a warm smile before grabbing her things and heading for the shower.

 

 

Helena returned from the shower half an hour later, toweling off her hair. “What did you find?” she asked.

“Well, I found a list of other universities he worked at, his credit statements from the last ten years, a list of previous addresses, what could qualify as about ten books of papers he’s written, and bits and pieces of his family history.”

“Let’s start with the universities. I do so hope that we don’t have to resort to looking through former residences and tracing the pens movement from there.” Helena ran her hand over her face. “That would take quite a lot more time than I’m really willing to invest.”

Claudia nodded. “Well, so far he’s worked at Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford, at least in his doctoral career. There are two others, but that was before String Theory was even a glimmer in his eye, which since the pen has something to do with String Theory, I’d say those three are the most likely.”

“Not Caltech?”

“No, I came across a job offer from them while I was digging, but he didn’t accept, he took Oxford’s offer instead.”

“Of course he did.” Helena rolled her eyes.

Claudia just looked at her.

“What?”

“I’m waiting for you to say that Cambridge is better.”

“Why in the world would I do that? They were both idiotic institutions that wouldn’t let women attend as full-fledged students, the Neanderthals.”

“Alrighty then.” Claudia turned back to her computer, shaking her head.

“Book us tickets on the next flight to any of those universities, then.”

“Already done, we fly to Massachusetts later tonight.”

“Splendid. Let’s go get this pointless venture at Stanford over with.”

“Aren’t you just a bright little ray of sunshine, H.G.”

“Darling, the first time anyone calls me a bright little ray of sunshine without being sarcastic will be the day I’ve gone completely off the deep end.”

Claudia snorted and started to pack up her laptop.

 

 

Another half an hour and they were on their way to Stanford. Claudia sat in the passenger’s seat quietly, staring out the window, unseeing. Helena wished she didn’t understand what that gaze meant, but she did. It seemed the girl really did need Agent Jinks alive.

“Why are we even going to Stanford if you’re so sure the pen isn’t there? It’s a waste of time. Time we could be spending instead looking for the metronome.”

“Time we could also be spending looking for a way to bring back the Warehouse, but that is beside the point, Claudia. We would waste more time if we did not check and it was here all along.”

“But when we go there and it’s not there then we’ll just look like idiots.”

“And that has never happened on a Warehouse mission ever,” Helena deadpanned.

Claudia scowled. “I’m serious H.G., if this is a major time suck, why even bother?”

“Why do we bother with most things, Claudia? And I do not think an hour out of our lives constitutes a ‘major time suck.’”

“An hour is an hour!”

“And a duck is a duck. Claudia, this is something we have to do, it is necessary. I know it does not help get Agent Jinks back. I know you would rather be back at the B&B figuring out a way to get back the metronome from the Regents. But fighting with me about what we have to do on this mission will help no one.”

“Whatever.” Claudia turned more towards the window and crossed her arms.

Helena reached out and put her hand on the girl’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “I will follow through on my promise. I will help you look for the metronome. If we find it and you manage to resurrect Agent Jinks I will even help you fix the various downsides of the artifact. I daresay Agent Jinks will not like what has to happen, but he will have to play along anyway.”

“You could just tell me now. You might not be here when I find the metronome.”

Helena hesitated. Claudia had a point. But still…

“We will find it, Claudia. When we work together I daresay that nothing can stop us.”

“Is the downside really that bad that you’re not going to tell me?”

She sighed. “When you resurrect someone with the metronome you are connected to them. If they get hurt, you feel it as well. If they die, you die.”

“And Jinksy wouldn’t want that, he wouldn’t want to risk me. And that’s why you didn’t want to tell me.”

“Yes. I know what it is like to lose someone, Claudia. You have a chance to bring Steve back; I didn’t want to deter you.”

Claudia looked down, picking at a stray thread on her jeans. “I...yeah. That’s a pretty strong deterrent. But Jinksy deserves to be saved. I don’t really care what happens to me. He’ll be mad, but at least he’ll be alive, you know.”

“I might be the only one in the world who really would know.”

“Yeah, I guess you would.”

They stayed silent the rest of the ride.

 

When they arrived they went straight to the Physics lecture hall. Helena was glad of her excellent memory, the campus was huge and a little disorienting without former knowledge. They slipped inside just as a lecture was finishing up. Helena pulled Claudia aside in the back of the lecture hall.

“Claudia, you should be the one to fetch the pen. I have a feeling if I touch it again it might send me back to my world before I’m ready. It already whammied me through a set of gloves, I do not trust it not to do it again. In fact, I’d grab it with a pair of tongs just to be sure it doesn’t whammy you as well.”

“That’s assuming it’s actually here,” Claudia added cynically.

“Well, yes, that would help, wouldn’t it? But these instructions do also apply when we actually do find the pen. For now I’ll go distract the professor while you look. There is a drawer in the desk up front full of pens. If it is here, that is where it will be. You are looking for a fancy ball point pen. It should stand out, most of the pens in there are of the disposable variety, the rest all are the slightly higher end ones that people hand out with their logos plastered all over them.”

“Great, I’ll go play one of these things is not like the other. You go distract Professor Tweed Went Out Of Fashion in the 1950s.” Claudia started to descend the stairs.

Helena followed suit, arriving by the professor’s side just as he dismissed his students. As the lecture hall erupted into chaos Helena put on her most charming smile and caressed the professor’s arm.

“Why hello, professor.”

“Uh, hello. May I help you?”

“I suppose you could. You see, I’m a reporter and I have a few questions about physics that I need answered for my next article. Wikipedia and Google haven’t turned up much of use, that I can understand at least. Could you possibly help me with that?” She batted her eyelashes.

“I-I think I might be able to, yes,” he stuttered out.

“Splendid. You must be a busy man, classes to teach and such, how about we set up a meeting sometime in the near future?” Helena glanced over the man’s shoulder slyly, checking on Claudia’s progress. The girl was still digging through the drawer with a pair of tongs.

“I think that could be arranged.” The man smiled smarmily down at her, recovering from his earlier slip up.

The glint in his eyes made Helena want to take a scalding hot shower. Why couldn’t they have arrived during a lecture by a professor that was shy, reserved, and not a total sleaze? Lord, the things she did for the Warehouse sometimes.

“Well, what times are you available?”

“Well, tomorrow I only have one lecture from 8:30 in the morning to 10. The rest of my day is pretty much free.”

Helena glanced over his shoulder again. Claudia was still looking.

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, I’ve scheduled several other interviews for tomorrow. It is not a good day for me. I hate to be a bother, but would any other day work for you?” She bit her lip and looked down.

“Wednesdays are pretty full for me, but Thursdays are almost as free as Tuesdays. I have the one 8:30 class and then office hours from 1 to 3, Fridays I’m free after two. Do any of those time slots work for you?”

Claudia walked behind her then, shaking her head almost imperceptibly.

Helena smiled at the man. “Thursday works wonderfully for me. How about we meet at four in your office, if you don’t mind?”

“Oh no, I don’t mind at all. Thursday at four sounds great.”

“Lovely, thank you so very much. I’ll let you get back to your work and I shall see you then.”

“Oh yes, see you then.” He smiled wider.

Helena turned and walked up the stairs, waiting until the door shut behind her to let the shiver she had been repressing manifest. That had been thoroughly unpleasant. Claudia walked up to her then, stripping off her purple gloves.

“No such luck?” she asked.

“No, but then again you kind of expected that.”

They started walking back to their car.

“Yes, well better safe than sorry.”

Claudia shrugged. “I guess.”

“Good thing you booked us those tickets.”

“Yeah, just what I was thinking. Boston here we come.”

 

 


	29. Chapter 29

Myka jerked awake to the sound of her alarm. She blinked a few times, confused at her surroundings. She wasn’t back in the B&B. She shook her head. Of course she wasn’t; she was in Pasadena. They were still searching for the pen to send her home. Right.

She looked around the room. Claudia’s bed was rumpled but empty, the shower in the bathroom going full blast. She ran a hand through her curls, even more unruly than normal. Myka didn’t feel rested in the slightest. It was never good to go on a Warehouse mission at anything less than your best, but it would have to do for now. She had to get home as soon as possible. She had to get to Helena. It hurt to be apart from her.

But she was going to be apart from her for longer than it took to find the pen. Their agreement to save their respective worlds’ Warehouses would keep her from Helena even longer. She didn’t even know how long it was going to take to find a solution, if there even was one. Myka sighed. She really wished that the pocket watch had worked. Everything would have been so much simpler.

 She levered herself out of bed and set about getting ready. She wanted to get to Caltech as soon as possible. Sooner the pen was found, sooner she could work on saving the Warehouse, sooner she could get home and pretend that none of this ever happened. This was a new level of weird even for the Warehouse and she didn’t really want to think how much weirder it could get. Giant electrocuting scorpion war machines she could handle. Traveling universes it seemed was her limit.

The shower stopped and Claudia popped out a few minutes later. Myka was still working on getting her curls to behave in a more orderly fashion, a frustrated frown on her face.

“H.G. didn’t cheer you up?” Claudia asked, coming up behind her in the bedroom mirror.

Myka thought of the kisses they had shared last night. In a way she had, but then again she had dropped the wanting to stay bomb. She was so afraid that if she didn’t get back home right then that somehow this was going to be like Colorado all over again and she was going to show up too late, that she was going to lose another person she loved.

“She did, it’s just that…” Myka trailed off wondering just how much to say. She wanted to save these people, she really did, but she also didn’t want to give them some sort of false hope. But she supposed she should tell Claudia why she wasn’t going to use the pen immediately to go home.

“Helena and I decided that we’re going to stay until we’ve saved the Warehouses in both the universes we’re in. We don’t want to leave you in the lurch. It was all Helena’s idea, really.”

“And as much as you want to help us, you really just want to get back to H.G.”

Myka nodded. “Yeah.”

Claudia patted her on the shoulder. “It’s ok dude. You miss H.G. and you guys didn’t really establish anything relationship-y before this, did you?”

“Nothing substantial. I was too afraid to do anything. Helena was more than ready. She was waiting for me, really.”

Claudia nodded. “Don’t worry, Mykes. We’ll get you back to her. And the other versions of us will get her back to you. We’re a pretty dependable bunch, you know?”

A small smile cracked on Myka’s face. “Yeah, I do know. You guys are all great. It’s just hard.”

Claudia hugged her. “I know.” She pulled back after a second. “But let’s go get that pen so you do have a way home when the time comes.”

Myka nodded, hands falling from her hair. It didn’t matter how her hair looked today anyway. She grabbed a pony tail holder from her wrist and quickly tied her hair back into a bun. They would find the pen today. They had to find the pen today. They just had to.

Claudia grabbed her stuff quickly and shoved it into her bag. She was completely ready to go in a few minutes. Myka paced in front of her already packed bag.

Claudia turned to her once her bag was zipped up. “Ready to go?”

Myka nodded and grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder and walking to the rental car on autopilot. Claudia followed behind her silently. Myka was lost in her own head, so very lost. Sam kept popping up in her mind superimposing over images of Helena. Why staying to help save the Warehouse set off memories of Colorado she wasn’t sure, but it scared her nonetheless. She didn’t want to be late this time. She would break if she lost another person she loved. She had already broken when she had thought Helena was dead the first time. She couldn’t image what it would be like a second time around. Would she even manage to function this time? She wasn’t sure.

She followed the GPS, not registering anything between the hotel and when she pulled into the parking lot at Caltech. Claudia whistled looking around the campus with wide eyes. Myka glanced over and Claudia with a questioning look.

“This was my dream school of dream schools before Joshua disappeared. I always imagined coming here and studying physics just like him. With a double major in computer science of course.”

“You could still do it, if you wanted,” Myka said.

Claudia shook her head. “I’m happy at the Warehouse now, even if it isn’t the best place to be at this exact moment. You guys are my family, you know? Some fancy degree from some fancy school isn’t worth giving up that.”

“But it was your dream.”

“Dreams change.” Claudia shrugged. “Going in and out of mental wards sort of stripped me of any dream of college early on. Family became more important. Family is what I have now.”

Myka smiled lightly at Claudia. “Some dreams do come true.”

Claudia tore her eyes away from the school to look at Myka seriously. “Your dream will come true, Mykes. I don’t care how hard I have to work to get you back, I will. That’s what family does.”

A little bit of the memories of Colorado faded to the back of her mind once again. “Thanks, Claud.”

Claudia nodded. “What do you say we go rip this place apart?”

 Myka popped her door open. “Yeah, let’s.”

 

Claudia did all the talking once they got into the main offices. Myka and her usually controlling tendencies allowed her this once. It seemed that ehilr doing field work with Agent Jinks she had learned a few things, because with minimal questions asked they were on their way to the research labs where Edward Witten had worked. Claudia twirled their new ID badges that would get them where they needed to go and smiled widely at Myka. The corners of Myka’s mouth pulled up as she grabbed her own badge from Claudia.

“Not bad,” she said, clipping the little piece of plastic to her lapel.

“Not bad? Psh, I’d like to have seen you get us in faster. You still can’t lie too well, Mykes.”

“I’ve gotten better!”

Claudia snorted. “While that’s true, Pete’s definitely the lying mastermind of the two of you. You’re still a wee bit too tight laced to really get the hang of it.”

“Change the rules,” Myka muttered to herself.

“What?” Claudia looked over at her.

“Nothing.”

“And by nothing, you mean H.G. Yup, I got it.”

Myka sighed and decided just to tell Claudia. “When we were in China playing chess to unlock the second entrance into the Warehouse Helena told me to change the rules right before we won the game. She saved me. Lying is sort of like changing the rules.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” Claudia reached out and squeezed her hand once.

Myka squeezed back once before dropping Claudia’s hand. “Anyway, which way are we going?”

“We’re almost there, don’t worry. I’ve been paying attention. I got your back.”

“I know Claud, but it is nice to know.”

Claudia pointed to the building just on the edge of their vision. “That one right there. One of the many ‘state of the art laboratories on campus,’ or at least so says the guide that they gave me.” Claudia waved the glossy piece of paper around.

“Considering its reputation, it should probably live up to its manual. Unlike my alma mater.” Myka shivered at the remembrance at the state of the chem labs at her old university. They were straight out of the forties at best and an absolute nightmare to work in.

“I dunno. Checking out Joshua’s new digs at CERN kinda ruined everything else for me.” Claudia shrugged.

“I’m sure they’ll still have a few pieces of tech for you to geek out over after we’ve finished searching for the pen.”

The red head smiled. “Oh, I’m counting on it.”

They quickly reached the lab, walking in behind someone Myka would’ve guessed was a professor. Both of them wandered the halls looking for the exact lab that the secretary back at the office had given them. For being a state of the art university, the numbering system in the halls was a little bit confusing and out of order. Both letters and numbers went with each room, and letters weren’t always in alphabetical order. They eventually found what they were looking for on the third floor even though they were looking for a room with an E number. Myka had to shake her head, sometimes colleges were colleges no matter how prestigious.

Myka walked in first, badge at the ready to flash if need be. No one was in the lab, however. She sighed in relief and flicked on the lights. Everything looked like it had been a few months since it was used last. It was a good sign at least that the pen might actually still be in the room. The second Claudia started to scurry about the room looking through drawers for the pen, though it set Myka to sneezing.

When the sneezing fit was done, she grabbed Claudia’s arm. “Wait Claud.” Myka wiped her watery eyes with the back of her hand. “The pen originally got Helena and I through a pair of purple gloves. Be careful, try not to touch it at all.”

Claudia bit her lip. “But how are we supposed to bag it if we can’t touch it?”

Myka looked around the room for something to help her. “Here.” She reached out and grabbed a pair of tongs and handed them to Claudia. “Hopefully that’ll be enough to protect you. We don’t exactly want you showing up in another universe. Two Warehouse agents in different universes are enough.”

“Ya think?” Claudia took the tongs from her and set to work again.

Myka grabbed her own pair of tongs and set to work on the other side of the room. They worked for a long while, a light sheen of sweat built up on Myka’s neck. The AC had been turned down in the room and since the outside air was warm, the room they were in wasn’t exactly cool. Claudia finished her half of the drawers first, scowling.

“If it isn’t here that’s going to majorly tank.” She leaned back into the counter and looked around. There were a few instruments covered in sheets, but other than that there wasn’t much.

Myka kept working on her drawers until she met Claudia in the middle. She shut the last drawer with a frustrated bang. Majorly suck wasn’t even going to cover it.

“Maybe under the sheets?” Myka said a little hopelessly.

Claudia shrugged and went about lifting the sheets and looking under them, but there were just scientific instruments, not artifacts.

“Alright, let’s try his old office maybe?” Myka levered herself off the counter and walked to the door.

“’Kay. That’s way across campus, though.”

“Always is.”

Claudia walked out into the hallway and Myka moved to follow but stopped. She just had a feeling. Was this what Pete was always talking about when he said he got vibes? If it was she should definitely listen to them. The vibes always helped Pete. Maybe this time they would help her too.

She spun around in the middle of the room slowly one final time. Something caught her eye in the corner of the room, wedged under one of the counters. Myka walked over and squatted down closer to get a better look. A gasp left her lips at what she saw.

“Claudia!” She called out.

The red head popped her head back in the room. “Yeah, Mykes?”

“It’s here.” Myka gestured under the counter.

“The pen?”

Myka nodded.

Claudia was by her side in an instant, tongs at the ready and a static bag clutched in her other hand. The younger woman handed Myka the bag and set to wriggling the pen free of its hiding space. Slowly but surely the red head managed to work the pen free. When it was almost loose it suddenly popped out at the last second and flew towards both of them. They both jumped back, Claudia letting out a high pitched squeak in the process.

Myka landed on her backside with an audible ‘oomph.’ The pen clattered to a stop near her. She ripped open the static bag and crawled towards it, wincing slightly as her back muscles protested from the fall. Claudia managed to recover and meet her there, tongs at the ready. She picked up the pen carefully and plopped it in the waiting static bag, drawing back quickly to avoid the sparks.

Except it didn’t spark. It didn’t even let off an iota of extra energy.

Claudia looked up at Myka, eyebrow cocked. “You sure this is the right pen?”

“Absolutely certain,” Myka replied still looking at the bag with a frown.

“Shouldn’t it have sparked and, I don’t know, maybe have sent you home since it was neutralized?”

“I have no idea. Maybe it’s still active? Like a bifurcated artifact won’t spark until both pieces are together.”

“But does this thing have two pieces?”

Myka shook her head. “No, all of it is there. At least everything that sent me here.” Myka bit the inside of her lip. “But maybe…there are technically two pens right now. Well, there are technically at least eleven, but I mean the pen that sent Helena and I here should be split in half almost.”

“So you think Helena might have to find her own pen and neutralize it before it actually sends you both home?”

Myka thought it over for another few seconds. “Maybe. I mean, it would make sense.”

Claudia snorted. “When does anything to do with the Warehouse ever _really_ make sense.”

Myka laughed once. “Yeah.”

Claudia hopped up from the floor. “Right, well, I think there are probably some tests that Artie and I can run on the pen when we’re back at the B&B to see if it really is an active artifact. So, why don’t we skidoo?”

Myka sighed and stood up, not missing the slight allusion to Claudia’s new disbelief. She had to admit that this had been a little bit of a goose chase, but she had thought that Claudia really and truly believed her. Maybe she still did. Maybe it was the pen she doubted. After all pens could look the same. She really hoped it was the second option. She didn’t want yet another person thinking that she was insane. She was having a hard enough time with Artie.

Both of them walked out of the building quickly. They had permission to be there, but best not to push it and have anyone asking questions, even if Claudia was practically drooling over the lab equipment they did manage to see. Myka clutched onto the static bag tightly, never letting go even the slightest when her hand started to hurt. The pen was her way home, her way back to Helena. She wasn’t about to let it out of her sight for a second.

They ended up in another café close to campus for Claudia to work her magic and get them on the soonest plane flight back to South Dakota. Myka for her part spaced out again while Claudia’s fingers flew over the keys. She wondered just how they were going to save the Warehouse this time. Artifacts could do many, many things, but how could they save something that had already been destroyed? Helena had proved that physical time travel wasn’t possible, so how exactly were they going to do it?  Was there an artifact somewhere that could bring atoms back together into whatever they once were? What was the downside if there was an artifact like that? There was always a downside, wasn’t there? Was the downside too much to live with even if it could bring back the Warehouse? And if it was, and that turned out to be the only way, was she ever going to go home? Would Helena’s sense of honor let them return to a world where everything was perfectly fine?

The questions swirled around in her mind, but there wasn’t enough information for her to answer any of them. Not that the darkest regions of her imagination weren’t trying to answer for her. Sometimes an imagination developed by all sorts of fantastical books was a curse. Her mind knew no creative limits. Everything she could come up with was worse than the last.

“—kes? Mykes? Are you in there?” Claudia waved a hand in front of her face.

“What?” Myka asked in a barely audible voice. She shook her head and cleared her throat. “What?”

“I said I got us a flight, it flies us back to South Dakota nonstop and just in time to hop a charter plane back to Rapid City. We’ll be home before midnight. But we have to book it in order to get there on time.”

Myka nodded and stood up. “Let’s go then.”

Claudia quickly stowed her laptop in her bag and jumped up. “Lead the way, captain.” She gestured towards the door in an overdramatic fashion.

Myka cracked a small smile and walked out to their car. She got them to the airport as fast as she could, but still they barely made it to the plane on time, even with Myka flashing her badge and claiming she needed to get through as soon as possible. A badge could get her a lot of things, but fast airport security checks weren’t one of them.

They did manage to pull into the B&B’s lot before midnight, but barely. Myka saw the clock roll over just as she shut off the car. She yawned loudly before stepping out of her SUV and grabbing her stuff. Claudia shot into the B&B, leaving Myka in the dust.

When she did manage to wander into the B&B Claudia was wrapped around Jinks practically screaming how glad she was that he was back. She made a mental note to tell them about the metronomes side effects, but for now she would let Claudia have her reunion. Leena hovered at the edge of the room smiling at all three of them before she disappeared back into the kitchen.

Myka stepped forward. “It’s good to have you back,” she said sincerely. After all it wasn’t so long ago that her own Jinks had been in a similar situation.

“Thanks, Myka.”

She nodded and stepped back again, wandering up to her room. Better to let Claudia have her moment with her best friend without any intruders. She threw down her stuff in her room and collapsed face down on her bed. All she wanted was to see Helena again. Today had been draining mentally and physically. The whole ordeal had really.

Myka felt a little grimy laying in her bed in the clothes that she had worn for eighteen hours straight, but her eyelids soon drooped anyway. Thoughts of getting up to get to take a quick shower fell by the wayside as she blinked one last final time and finally didn’t open her eyes anymore.

 


	30. Chapter 30

Helena sat on yet another plane, trying not to tap her foot. Normally she could be as patient as need be, but that was not the case today. This was a goose chase of which she wasn’t overly fond. She didn’t quite understand why the universe wanted to make everything as difficult as possible for Warehouse agents, but here they were. She could be back at the Bed and Breakfast researching a way to fix everything, but the fates seemed to conspire against her always.

Claudia, beside her, had fallen asleep again as soon as the drink cart had passed them the first time. Perhaps if she managed to fall asleep she would be connected to Myka once again in some way. She was anxious to see her once more. Something was nagging at the back of her mind.

Then again it could just be the non-stop pace she had been going at wearing on her. When she had left Myka this morning she was fine. She was chasing after the pen just as she was. What could have changed in such a short time? Warehouse missions could go south quickly, but they had already chased this artifact, already knew what it did, were even under the effects now. Things couldn’t go much more south, could they?

She tightened her grip on the arm rest. Helena couldn’t afford to think like that. If she let her guard down things were likely to go wrong once again. She would check in with Myka as soon as possible and make sure. Maybe it was something inconsequential. She knew Myka wasn’t particularly happy about her decision to stay and help, therefore forcing her own hand as well. Perhaps it was just lingering guilt affecting her now that she was sitting in a flying hollow metal tube with nothing to do but read inane magazines and let her mind wander.

Helena leaned back into the head rest and shut her eyes. She felt the vibrations from the engine through her thinly padded seat and in the soles of her feet. The buzz was like a bee constantly buzzing around her ears. It wasn’t exactly the most conducive environment for sleep. Nevertheless, she tried to forcefully regulate her breathing, matching it to Claudia’s sleeping breaths beside her. She let her mind wander through a fictional land of her choosing, making up a story as she went along, like she normally did when she couldn’t sleep. When that failed she tried counting sheep.

But no matter what she did she couldn’t get herself to fall asleep. Frustrated, she opened her eyes once again forty-five minutes later. She huffed and sat up fully once again. Of course she couldn’t sleep when she needed to.

She sighed and looked up at the flight tracker. They looked to be about an hour out of Boston. Helena felt like banging her head off the plane’s inner wall. She couldn’t quite recall how she had made it through a trans-Atlantic flight and stayed sane.

There was one thing for sure. Myka was her kryptonite when it came to all her usual tendencies. Christina had been as well. Perhaps it was just a function of love that you altered a few habits to protect and humor them.

She settled back into her chair once more. She could use a stiff drink or at least a spar with someone of moderate skill in some fighting style. She needed to expend energy, but that wasn’t exactly an option. Instead, she picked up another magazine and flipped through the pages, not taking in a word and counted down the minutes to landing.

 

As soon as the door to plane opened Helena shot off, hoping Claudia was somewhere close behind her. Late evening was descending upon them. Perhaps if she got them a hotel somewhere close and tried to sleep there she would have more luck. She hoped Myka was already there.

Claudia caught up to her as she was renting them a car. “Jesus frack, woman. You can _move_ for someone who’s over 100 years old.”

Helena shot her a smirk. “You would think a young whippersnapper could keep up then.”

“Right. H.G. you can take down four men by yourself. I think I can be excused from keeping up with you.” She slumped against the counter tiredly. “How hopeful are you that the pen is at Harvard?”

Helena grabbed the keys from the rental clerk and walked towards the indicated lot. Claudia followed closely behind her.

“I’m not sure. I haven’t checked with Myka since this morning to know if she found the pen at Caltech, so I have no real information to go on. I do so hope it’s there, but that’s all I know for the moment.”

“You give great pep talks,” Claudia said sarcastically.

“Would you prefer I give you false hope?”

Claudia sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “No. But I want to rescue Jinxy.”

“I’m well aware. I’d rather be done with this pen search as well, darling. Have you made any more progress on where the metronome is?”

“No, Grumpasarus Rex has hidden it well. Turns out maybe I shouldn’t have given him those hacker 101 lessons after all. He took them to the next level. Or he got someone to do it for him. Because that information is locked up tighter than Fort Knox with so many safe guards and fire walls I might as well be trying to dig in with a spoon.”

“Back doors?”

A small smile flickered across Claudia’s face. “Someone’s been paying attention to her own hacker 101 lessons.” Claudia shook her head. “But no, there haven’t been any back doors that I’ve found. I’m working on it, but it’s slow going. Whoever did this out-me’d me.”

“You’ll figure it out darling. There has to be a weak spot somewhere.”

“Hopefully,” Claudia said forlornly.

“My promise still holds. I’ll help you after the pen search is done.”

“I know. I trust you, H.G.”

“My, you don’t know how good it is to hear those words in a sentence together.”

Claudia laughed once. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Sort of. I didn’t almost destroy the world or anything. But same concept, you know.”

“I do.”

The walked up beside the car that matched the description of the one Helena had rented, a bright green Nissan. Helena clicked the unlock button and the car flashed its headlights.

“I do believe this is us.” She slipped into the driver’s seat.

 Claudia flopped into the passenger’s seat and threw both of their bags over her shoulder haphazardly into the back seat. “Anyway, you want to try to go to Harvard tonight?”

Helena started the car and pulled out of the parking space smoothly. Her time driving around the United States aimlessly had improved her driving skills somewhat. Perhaps next time she drove with Myka in the car she wouldn’t give her a heart attack. She smiled as pulled into the light late evening traffic.

“No, class will be winding down. The offices will already be closed. We would be going in blind, and that’s never a good thing on a Warehouse mission, darling. You know that.”

“Yeah,” Claudia sighed. She looked out the window and watched the Boston skyline whip past.

“Agent Jinks is not going anywhere, Claudia. I know you want him back as soon as possible, but a few more hours won’t matter in his state. And he wouldn’t want you getting hurt because you’re too distracted on his behalf.”

Claudia whipped around to glare at Helena. “How can you say that?”

“Experience.”

The red head opened her mouth to reply but shut it again almost immediately. She hated to use Christina’s death so cheaply, but she was sure it was the only thing that would reach the young woman at this point. From the way Claudia slumped down in her seat and curled into herself, it had worked, if not exactly how she had wanted. She hoped she hadn’t hurt her quite as much as it looked like she had. But the girl was resilient, she would rebound. Helena would just feel horrible until then.

They drove closer to Harvard’s main campus and Helena found a hotel quickly. She booked two rooms, Artie and his normal budget schemes be damned. With one glance at Claudia she knew this wasn’t a night to force her company on the computer hacker. She handed Claudia one set of key cards and the red head nodded before slipping off down the hall.

Helena watched her go, lips pursed. She felt as if a ten ton weight had settled atop her shoulders. Ah yes, there was the guilt. Combined with the lingering anxiousness over Myka she felt like she was in quite the state.

She sighed and walked down the hall a minute or so after the other agent had disappeared from sight. Helena let herself into the room and flopped down on the bed immediately. She was hungry, anxious, guilty, and upset at herself. Sometimes she couldn’t quite register where the line was. Or perhaps more accurately, she realized exactly where the line was but crossed it anyway.

She thought about ordering room service, something greasy with an extra helping of chocolate ice cream on the side, but decided against it. Food wasn’t as important as getting to Myka. She couldn’t fix what she had said to Claudia, but she could perhaps relieve some of her anxiety about Myka. Then at least one thing would be fixed and she could more fully focus on the other.

Helena sat up and shrugged off her suit jacket, her blouse, shoes, and pants in short order. She crawled under the hotel sheets in nothing but her underwear. Internally she was cringing, she didn’t want to think what was on these sheets, but at the same time practicality won out. This would get her to Myka faster.

Honestly, she wasn’t sure if she had the energy to slip into pjs anyway. Now that she was here in a room with an honest to god bed, the exhaustion that had eluded her on the plane was at the forefront of her mind.

She collapsed onto the pillow and was out like a light what felt like seconds later.

 

When she awoke she was at the B&B again. She sat up, throwing back the covers on Myka’s bed and looking around. There was no sign of Myka just yet. Helena huffed and sat back on the bed. Why was it she always seemed to be ending up in this dream world before Myka? She didn’t go to bed _that_ early and Myka herself was usually the early to bed early to rise type. Perhaps their respective universes were off just a little bit time wise. The prospect was fascinating to the science oriented part of her brain. When they finally got home she was going to have to do some heavy research into quantum physics. It seemed like quite the interesting field. She wondered if there was perhaps a way for her to manipulate it so that her time machine could actually send people physically back in time…

She shook her head. Such thoughts had a time and place and they weren’t right at this instant. She wondered if she should go down and fix another cup of tea. Her stomach growled. Or perhaps some food since she was still hungry. But she was restless, her limbs still twitched like they had wanted to on the plane. Instead, she settled for pacing the hallway, looking into Myka’s room at every turn, seeing if the other woman had arrived yet.

Helena grew more agitated as the minutes wore on like hours. Where was Myka? Had something gone wrong on her end so she couldn’t sleep? If something happened to her would she ever be able to find out what? They were in separate _universes_ for heaven’s sake. Was there really anyway to communicate between the two outside of their dreams? How exactly did their dreams work anyway?

She shook herself again. No, everything was fine. Myka would be here when she could. She was working herself up over nothing. She had become paranoid, she was well aware of this, but that didn’t ease the tightness that was starting to build in her chest. Myka was her whole world now, even if she wasn’t quite in the same universe right this second. She couldn’t lose her.

Helena practically wore a trench into the B&B hall floor by the time she finally turned in her pacing one last time before stopping dead in front of the door to Myka’s room. Myka was there. A huge breath left her as she slumped against the doorframe. The other woman looked absolutely fine. She had worked herself into a stupor for nothing.

She walked forward and set herself gently on her side of the bed. She reached out and caressed Myka’s face lightly. Myka’s eyelids fluttered under her touch. Her eyes opened a few seconds later, revealing green eyes brightened by the morning sun.

“Hello, darling,” Helena said quietly.

“Hi.” Myka’s voice was rough like she really had been sleeping in this dream world and hadn’t just appeared here a few seconds before.

“I was quite worried you weren’t going to show up. I’ve been here for rather a long while.”

“We got back to the B&B late. We found the pen at Caltech and then we had to travel home.”

“Ah. So you’re alright, darling?”

Myka’s brow scrunched lightly. “Yes. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve had…what I do believe Pete would call a vibe for most of today that something might be wrong with you. I was worried that some bodily harm might have befallen you.”

“No, everything’s fine, Helena.” Myka sat up and stroked the Brit’s face. She leaned forward and kissed the older woman gently.

Helena gladly returned the kiss. Now that Myka was right in front of her, unharmed she felt quite silly for being so restless for most of the day.

“I’m glad to hear that, darling,” she said as she pulled back just enough to pull their lips apart.

Myka hesitated slightly. “Maybe you were just feeling my…I guess angst would be the right word, about being separated from you longer than need be. I want to restore the Warehouse, I do, but I just feel…”

“As if everything will be pulled out from under you at the last second?”

“Yes.”

Helena grabbed Myka’s hands, still keeping their foreheads pressed together. “I’m not going anywhere, darling. I’m not going to let anything happen to you or myself. We will return home to each other just as soon as we can and as soon as we save the Warehouse. We’re two of the most brilliant people ever in the Warehouse’s employ. We’ll be home before you know it.”

Helena felt a sense of relief course through her. Myka wasn’t hurt. Everything she had felt had been bleed over of Myka’s feelings. Which she felt a tad guilty about causing such feelings in the other woman, but she knew it had to be done. The people in these universes they were in deserved everything the two of them could give them. They were, after all, literally almost the same people they had left behind. And Helena would die for them. She knew Myka would too.

“I know, Helena. It must just be left over from when I thought none of this was real.” Myka shrugged.

“Don’t invalidate your feelings, darling. You’re allowed to worry, but just know that everything will be fine in the end no matter what goes wrong. I’ll make sure of it.”

“You’re not superwoman, Helena. You can’t guarantee everything.”

“No, but I’m brilliant, resourceful, and highly motivated; it’s almost the same thing.” Helena pulled back and shot Myka a cocky smile.

Myka rolled her eyes but the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

Helena sobered up again. “So you found the pen at Caltech?”

“Yeah, in one of the labs that Witten had worked in once upon a time.”

Helena pursed her lips. “The Edward Witten in our universe didn’t work at Caltech. He took an offer for Oxford instead.”

“Oh, well, that’s just great.”

Helena hummed her agreement. “Claudia and I are in Boston right now to check Harvard before we go across the pond.”

“I hope it’s there.”

“As do I, darling. This is almost beginning to smell like a wild goose chase. It seems that the powers that be in every universe do not favor the luck of Warehouse agents.”

Myka snorted. “No, that they don’t. After all, the Warehouse in the universes we’re in blew up. I don’t exactly think it gets any worse than that for bad luck.”

“Pandora’s box could have cracked.”

Myka’s eyes widened. “You have a good point.”

“I usually do, darling.”

The younger woman slapped her lightly. “I’m going to start looking for a way to bring back the Warehouse now that I’ve found the pen. I’ll let you know tomorrow night if I find anything. But seeing as how the Warehouse’s databases went up with the Warehouse itself it might be slow going. We have a bunch of paper files that were stored elsewhere, but with less man power than normal it’s going to be slow going no matter what.”

Helena nodded. “I believe it’s like that here as well. Compounded by the fact that I’ve promised to help Claudia bring back Agent Jinks as well.”

“She hasn’t done that already?” Myka titled her head to the side.

“No, the Artie in this universe took the metronome away before she could.”

“Oh. Here it’s played out a lot like it did back home. Except they haven’t figured out the side effect yet. Jinks just got back to the B&B tonight actually.”

“Ah, I already warned my Claudia of that nuisance.”

“I’ll tell her in the morning. Tonight they were having their best buddy reunion time and I saw no need to be a downer.”

“Understandable, darling.”

“Oh, the pen here didn’t spark, Helena. Have you ever had an active artifact that wasn’t some sort of bifurcated object do that?”

Helena shook her head. “No, but then again I’ve never had an artifact get my through the purple gloves either. I think this pen might be a special case. After all, it is messing with the borders between universes, what’s to say it can’t bend a few rules itself?”

A small smile lit up Myka’s face.

“What is it, darling?” Helena asked.

“Nothing, really. I just told Claudia the change the rules story about us in China today.”

“Ah yes, Wells and Bering saving the day.” Helena smiled back at Myka.

“Bering and Wells.” Myka shot her a challenging look.

“I don’t see why your name has to be first, but I’ll concede.”

“It flows better and you know it.”

Helena laughed. “Maybe.” She leaned forward and kissed Myka once more, lingering for far longer than the first time. How she so wished that she could take this as far as she wanted. But that was for another day.

She pulled back once more and cupped Myka’s face. “Everything will be fine, darling. I’ll find the pen. You’ll find a way to get the Warehouse back and we’ll be back before you can say string theory.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Myka whispered against Helena’s lips, pulling her back in closer.

“I thought so,” Helena whispered back.

Myka sealed their lips together once more and yet again the dream faded around them.

 

Helena woke up in yet another hotel bed. She quite forgot exactly what her bed at the B&B felt like, it seemed like so long since she had been there for any length of time. She had a passing thought wondering if her bed in this universe felt the same as the one in her home universe, but shook it off.

She sat up and wiped the sleep out of her eyes. Helena got up and knocked on the door that joined her room to Claudia’s. She opened it when a voice sounded faintly through the thick wood, instructing her to come in.

 Claudia was already up typing away at her lap top. The dark bags under her eyes made it look like she hadn’t slept much at all during the night. Helena wondered if she had managed to sleep period. It wasn’t exactly the best state to be going on a mission in, but Claudia knew that.

“Trying to hack into the file holding the metronome’s location?” She asked, voice scratchy from sleep.

“Yeah,” Claudia bit out.

“Any luck?”

“Does it look like I’m having any luck?”

“A simple no would have sufficed, darling.” She wandered to the little in room coffee pot. She fiddled around for a few minutes setting everything up and then let the coffee brew while she went to brush her teeth.

When she came back she poured Claudia a cup and walked over with a handful of cream and sugar packets. She placed the Styrofoam cup on the nightstand beside the techie, scattering the packets around its base. Claudia snatched it up and took a long draw of the bitter liquid straight. She winced but kept sipping, still typing quickly with one hand.

“So you’ve made no progress at all?” She called as she sat back down on her own bed, picking through her small bag of clothing for something to wear.

“Some, but the minute I stop typing I lose it all. The firewall will repair itself and then I’ll be back to square one and it’ll probably have learned from my attacks this time and be able to shut me out even easier next time.”

“So you have to keep at it and either get through or kicked out completely.”

“Yup. I don’t know if I ever met the person who built this program if I would high five them or punch them. This is worse than getting through government servers for top secret stuff.” She let out a high pitched shriek.

“Are you alright darling?” Helena stared around the door frame at Claudia with wide eyes.

“Yeah. This is just so frakking stupid. Why the hell does Artie want Jinksy to stay dead this bad? We can _save_ him! Why doesn’t he want to save him?” Tears slipped down Claudia’s cheeks as her fingers kept relentlessly moving.

“I don’t think it’s anything against Agent Jinks, Claudia. I do believe Artie just sees it as something dangerous for mankind as a whole. Sacrificing one for the safety of the many, if you will.” Helena walked further into the red head’s room.

“How does this endanger anyone? It would only be me who would be in any danger and you said you would help fix everything!”

“But what if people found out, Claudia? Not that I believe they will, but I think Artie does in some way. He’s seen lifesaving artifacts abused in his tenure here at the Warehouse. Macpherson made sure of that. I think the metronome might be another phoenix for him.”

Claudia’s fingers never stopped. Helena wasn’t even sure if she was typing in code anymore or just hitting the keys to keep like she was doing something, anything. She wasn’t about to grab the red head’s hands and stop her to find out.

“It’s not the same!”

“Do you think Artie can see that after the Warehouse was just destroyed? We were this close to the world descending into chaos if Pandora’s box had been broken open. I think he’s going to be on high alert about any artifact, no matter how mundane its side effects are.”

“It’s bullshit, H.G. this is Jinksy we’re talking about!”

Helena walked over and sat beside the distraught girl. “I know, darling. That’s why I said I would help. But you must remember I have an outside perspective on all this, Artie does not. He doesn’t know the side effects, I do. He’s trying to look out for you, no matter how badly he might be doing right now.”

Claudia finally detached her hands from the keyboard and turned to hug Helena. She sobbed into her neck loudly. Helena brought her arms to encircle the girl. She made small circles on the red head’s back as the sobs continued one.

Now that she was sitting on Claudia’s bed she could see the computer screen. There were no lines of code on the screen. Everything was blank. She had been kicked out of the program, though Helena didn’t know at what point that had happened. She bet it wasn’t quite long into their conversation at the latest.

They sat there for a long while until Claudia sobbed herself out. She stayed in Helena’s arms even after the tears dried. She held so still that Helena was almost sure that the girl had tired herself out enough that she had fallen asleep.

“It’s my fault he’s dead,” came a small voice from the hollow of her neck.

Helena pulled back and looked at Claudia square in the face. Her eyes were red and puffy and her nose was still running slightly. Helena wanted to take her back into her arms and hold her until everything was ok again, but she needed to hear this.

“It is not your fault, Claudia. Agent Jinks knew what he was doing when he agreed to the undercover mission. He knew he might not come out of it alive. He was a smart man, Claudia. He knew the risks and he still agreed to go on the assignment for the good of mankind.”

“But—”

“No.” She placed a finger on Claudia’s lips. “No, buts. Nothing you would have done would have changed his mind. He was a noble man. He would have accepted that assignment no matter what.”

Claudia looked down and sniffed once. “Yeah.” She looked up at Helena. “He’s got a super hero complex.”

Helena laughed. “I think we all do, darling. It’s a requirement to work at the Warehouse, I believe.”

Claudia laughed. “Yeah, maybe it is.” She shut her laptop slowly. “I’m going to go shower. Then we’re going to go find this stupid frakking pen and go home.”

“That sounds like a plan to me, darling.”

Claudia nodded and moved slowly off the bed, gathering her things, and wandered almost aimlessly into the bathroom.

Helena sighed and moved to her own bed, falling back against the rumpled sheets once more. She thought that no matter how many years had passed the Warehouse at its core still remained the same. As much as it was a land of endless wonder, it also seemed to be a land of endless pain for those who worked there. She wondered if it would ever change, but then shook her head. Artifacts and people were dangerous. That would never change, so neither would the painful aspect of the job.

She sat up once again, shoulders a little heavier and started to get ready for the day.

 


	31. Chapter 31

Myka woke up when the sun was high in the sky. She felt lighter than she had in days. Helena’s pep talks always seemed to have that effect on her. She sighed and sat up, tracing her lips. She swore she could still taste Helena’s lips on her own. But that was impossible. Then again, so was travelling universes using only a pen. She shrugged and licked her lips once more, smiling.

All was quiet in the rest of the B&B. Myka’s face scrunched. She wondered where everyone had gone. It wasn’t like they had the Warehouse to go to anymore. Home base was here. Unless they had all gone into Univille for supplies, but that was unlikely.

She quickly slipped into some fresh clothes and went to explore. The whole upstairs was empty with the doors to everyone’s rooms standing open. Myka slipped down the stairs onto the main floor of the B&B and walked from room to room quietly. The library was empty, but that was a given, she and Helena were the only ones who frequented the room. The dining room was also empty, as were the living room and sun porch.

Finally, she walked into the kitchen and found almost everyone sitting at the kitchen table quietly searching through papers. From the quick glance Myka got every time someone flipped a page they looked like the same files she had flicked through in order to find information about Edward Witten’s pen. Even Pete was sitting quietly, diligently reading and searching the files for whatever it was they were looking for, probably something to save the Warehouse. Myka wasn’t sure she had seen the man sit so still for so long before without being tempted with food for his patience. The corners of her mouth turned up slightly at the thought.

Conspicuously missing was Artie. His normal chair was empty, some files neatly stacked in front of it. She wondered where exactly he had gotten off to, perhaps a meeting with the Regents? Were the Regents technically still in charge of them now that there really wasn’t a Warehouse to speak of? Probably, and they were probably reaming Artie a new one somewhere about how he hadn’t found a viable solution to bring the Warehouse back yet.

Myka frowned and sat down in her usual chair, a pile of files sitting neatly in front of her chair as well. She flicked open the first one and read the first line “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s pipe.” That was a new one, she hadn’t known Doyle had created any artifacts. He hadn’t been on the roster back at her own Warehouse. She skimmed down the page, apparently the pipe gave extraordinary mystery solving capabilities to the average person in exchange for making the area around them rife with strange, normally unsolvable crimes.

Strange, she thought she had heard of something like that happening before. She squinted in thought, maybe that last mission that Artie and Pete had gone on? She shrugged and flipped the page, scanning the file fully. She didn’t expect that it would have the key to saving the Warehouse, but better to be sure.

She closed the file and set it aside when she was done and looked up around the table. Everyone else looked a little haggard, with bloodshot eyes. Pete finally thumped his head down on the table and groaned.

“How long have you guys been at this?” she asked.

“Way too long,” Pete said into the hardwood of the table.

“Since around eight this morning,” Jinks said, looking up running a hand across his short hair a few times.

“So. Many. Paper. Files.” Claudia twitched. “I could have searched through all these files and a million more in the same amount of time as we’ve sat here if only I had the Warehouse’s database. That database was a thing of beauty,” Claudia said wistfully.

“You complained about it all the time,” Leena said, finally looking up.

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder? Or maybe in this case paper cuts make the heart grow fonder.” She held up her hands, covered in a few Band-Aids. “I’m going to go insane soon if we don’t find something. The grand poobah bid us to stay here until we found something.”

 Myka laughed quietly. “Where’s Artie anyway?”

“Dunno,” Claudia said. Beside her Jinks twitched slightly.

Myka scowled. “Where is he really, Claud?” She flicked her eyes towards Jinks indicating that the jig was up.

Pete lifted her head off the table, a large red spot in the middle of his forehead. “He’s off testing the pen you guys brought back to see if it really is an artifact.” He winced slightly. “Sorry Mykes.”

Myka sighed heavily and ran her hand through her curls, pulling them back behind her shoulders. “It’s ok, Pete.”

But it really wasn’t. Her team had to run tests to trust her word now. That wasn’t ok at all. Teams only worked if everyone actually trusted each other. She had thought this would end when she had turned up the file on Witten’s pen, but apparently that hope had died when the pen hadn’t sparked back at Caltech.

She looked back down at her stack of files. “So, what do you say we get through this stack of files before Artie gets back? He might give you guys a break if we do.”

This time it was Claudia who collapsed against the table. “Mykes, even you won’t be able to save us from the stack he left.” One of her hands lifted and pointed towards the corner of the room where at least ten files boxes were sitting. “And he’s got more somewhere.”

“Oh. Well then.” Suddenly the job seemed much more daunting. How were they supposed to find an answer in all of this?

“Yeah.”

“I suppose we really should get to work then.” Myka flipped open another file while Pete and Claudia let out a joint groan.

“Join the Warehouse they said, world of endless wonder, they said,” Pete mumbled under his breath.

Myka snorted lightly and read the first line of the next file “Liliuokalani’s Crown” while the rest of the group settled in yet again for an extended reading session.

 

She read until her eyes burned and then continued on until her eyes couldn’t stay open anymore. Claudia was asleep on her pile of files. Pete was slumped back in his chair, with drool dripping down his chin. Steve had gone to meditate, though Myka suspected he really meant nap in a more dignified manner than their fellow Warehouse agents. Leena was the only one still plugging along with her.

Myka pried her eyes open once more and skimmed another page quickly. Yogi Berra’s jock strap. God, she hoped that had nothing to do with saving the Warehouse. She groaned. Myka hadn’t thought anything could be weirder than some of the artifacts she had seen, but she was totally wrong. Today had enlightened her to just how weird artifacts could get.

Leena flipped her last folder closed and sighed. “I’m going to fix all of us a late dinner and then I think we should all call it a night. No matter what Artie says we aren’t exactly useful in this condition.”

“Agreed.” Myka flipped the folder on Yogi Berra closed and rested her head on the table. “I feel like I’m in college cramming for a test all over again.”

Leena smiled, amused. “Tea before I put on dinner?”

“You would literally be the best person alive if you did.”

She nodded and headed towards the kitchen proper, leaving Myka with the two that proved sleeping in any position really was possible.  She pulled her own head off the table and rested her chin on her folded arms. A glance over at the seemingly endless file boxes set her spirits sinking. This was going to take forever even with five of them. Why had the Warehouse kept all of its servers at the actual Warehouse? That just didn’t seem very practical for situations like this. Then again there really hadn’t even been a situation like this. But then the Regents were supposed to have some sort of foresight about these things.

Myka shook her head. Going down that path wasn’t going to help her. The smell of tea washed over her and she smiled, still staring at the file boxes. Leena set down a cup beside her.

“Thanks, Leena,” she said, grabbing the mug and wrapping her hands around it, absorbing the warmth seeping through the ceramic

“No problem. What do you think our resident bottomless pit will want for dinner?”

Myka snorted. “I think at this point you could serve him a plate covered in ketchup and he would eat it and probably like it.”

Pete let out a great big snort of a snore.

Both of them giggled uncontrollably for a minute.

“Spaghetti then?” Leena asked when they had both calmed down.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Alright then.” She drifted back into the kitchen.

Myka fiddled with the strap of her watch for a few seconds. She wondered if she should wander into the library while dinner was cooking, or maybe even go help Leena. Certainly standing and moving would be a good change. She almost got out of her chair when the front door opened.

“Why South Dakota I’ll never understand. Crazy weather, always crazy,” Artie mumbled under his breath in the near silent house.

Myka sat back down and waited for the older man to enter the room. If he was back, that probably meant that he was done testing the pen to see if it was an artifact. And if it was done, then Myka would finally get the verdict on whether they would help or hinder her getting back to Helena. She knew it was real now, without a doubt. She would get home, with or without help. She just hoped it was with.

Artie walked in and scoffed at the sight before him, glancing at Pete and Claudia. “Amateurs. Computers made you all soft.”

Myka rolled her eyes but kept silent.

He finally turned to Myka and went silent. She glanced down at his hands. He was holding the static bag the pen was in. And it was still in a static bag. Myka tried not to read too much into it, but that boded well for her.

“So…” she trailed off.

Artie walked over to his chair and flopped down, startling Pete and Claudia awake in the process.

“Wha—I’ve been awake the whole time I swear!” Claudia exclaimed.

It took a few seconds for the wild look in Pete’s eyes to fade. He shook his head. “Oh hey, Artie. What’s up?”

Artie set the static bag on the table. Myka just looked at it then back up at her boss. She really wished he would just spit it out already.

“So I’ve run all the tests I could on the pen. It registered as an artifact, but no matter what method is used, it won’t be neutralized. But it doesn’t register as a bifurcated artifact. The pen is the only piece, there’s no notepad anywhere that goes with it. And while it won’t be neutralized, it’s also not active in the typical sense. It’s not looking to whammy any new people. I even touched it bare handed and nothing. It seems as if it’s in some sort of holding pattern.” Artie ran his hands through his bushy hair.

Myka sat up straighter with every word. She was right. They were going to believe her now. A weight was lifted off her shoulders. She had proof now. Real proof. Somewhere in the back of her mind that small part of her that still believed that everything with Helena was part of her imagination was finally silenced.

“So Myka’s right?” Claudia asked.

“About it being an artifact, yes. There aren’t really any tests to prove who the artifact is affecting.”   

“Then why don’t we just believe Mykes on her word then? It wasn’t like she wasn’t already right about everything else.” Pete shrugged.

Artie scowled.

“Yeah, Pooh Bear, stop being so cynical. Artifacts have done weirder things than only whammy-ing one person at a time.”

The irony of Claudia’s statement wasn’t lost on Myka, but she was still grateful all the same.

“Fine, but I’ve sent for more accurate testing supplies in the meantime.” Artie pushed back his chair and swept out of the room.

“ _Ouch,_ ” Pete said shaking himself.

“What’s his deal?” Claudia asked, looking after him.

Myka looked at Claudia. “You were beginning to doubt me there for a minute. What do you think is wrong with him?”

Claudia looked sheepish. “Yeah, sorry about that, but an artifact without sparking in a static bag is something I hadn’t seen. I mean, stuff like that isn’t even in the manual. I let it get the best of me.” She looked down at the table. “I should have trusted you more. Not some stupid weird artifact.”

“It’s ok, Claud, we all have moments of disbelief sometimes. But you know, still.”

“Yeah, feel free to bring that up for a few days at my expense.”

“I’ll pass. Just don’t say you don’t think I’m crazy one day and take it back the next.”

“Will do.”

“Wait, what’s going on here with you guys? There’s like some sort of mind meld going on.”

“Artie is still mad because he doesn’t believe Myka’s story, even though there’s proof,” Claudia replied.

Myka bit her lip. “Maybe it’s something more…”

Claudia turned to her. “What do you mean?”

“When we were in Marseilles and found the pocket watch, it was rigged to release a sentient hologram when it was near the watch chain. By Macpherson.”

“Wait, what seriously?” Claudia leaned forward.

Pete nodded. “Yeah. It was a little creepy.”

“More surprising than anything. But what I got from the hologram was a little more was going on between the two of them than Artie lets on.”

“Well, yeah, I got that, too, but what’s that got to do with how he’s treating you?” Pete asked.

“Everything. The whole reason he knew exactly what was going on with me right after the Warehouse blew up and why he was so wary of the stories I kept telling about the pen and the other universe was because he’d been through something similar.”

“Macpherson didn’t exactly get blown up and sent to another universe,” Claudia said.

“No, but that doesn’t change the principal of everything. He was in love with him. He got left behind. He most certainly wished for everything to be different. We weren’t around then, who knows how far he could’ve taken it?”

“He doesn’t exactly seem like the bell jar type either, Mykes,” Claudia said.

Pete hesitated a moment. “He didn’t quite have it all together in France. At least as much as he normally does.”

“Exactly. And everything he wished for didn’t come true, but everything that he thought I was imagining and wishing for is just now suddenly real.”

“I’d be a little miffed,” Pete said.

“Yeah…I guess so.” Claudia’s lips pursed. “But seriously, old man grump fell in love with Macpherson?”

Myka shrugged. “You met him, he was charming.”

“But Artie batting for the other team? I didn’t see that coming. I mean it’s totally fine, but I just never got the vibe.”

“Claud, you didn’t see that coming from Steve either, and he gives off the vibe pretty hard.” Myka cocked an eyebrow.

“Hey! At least I called you and H.G.”

“I dunno Claudia, that’s only one out of three,” Pete teased.

“So I don’t have the best gaydar, sue me.”

“Well, it’s not like you need it. Remember how you made googly eyes for a straight week at the one rocker guy who walked around the bar in Univille?”

“Shut up!” Claudia slapped him on the shoulder lightly.

Myka smiled at their antics. She shook her head and started to gather up the unread files off the table. She could smell food now. Dinner would be soon and they would need somewhere to eat. She set the files back on top of the file box they’d been digging from and scooted it out of the way.

Just as she finished, Leena came out bearing plates of food. Pete cheered loudly and jumped up and down in his seat. Claudia rolled her eyes. Leena just smiled. Myka cocked her hip back, just staring at the group of them from across the room. For being in another universe almost everyone was almost exactly the same. Little things, a certain mannerism, a catchphrase, their favorite food, were different, but as a whole they were the same as the people she left at home. The people that were her family. Seeing the group in front of her act like a family made her ache. She should be home with _her_ family. But at the same time it made her feel lighter. She was going to give these people hope. She was going to help save the Warehouse. And if the Myka who existed here normally when there wasn’t an interloper from another universe never came back at least she’d leave them with something.

She known all of that before, that doing this was the right thing, but only now did it feel right with the playful banter flowing between Pete and Claudia and Leena feeding them all like the mother she was to them. Myka was so glad that Helena had had the idea even if it did mean she wasn’t home. She was doing something good. And that’s what mattered.

She sat with the gang and passed the rest of the night with laughter and smiles. They hadn’t made much progress on the whole, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have a good time. Steve appeared in the middle of the meal, looking sleep rumpled and smiling. They welcomed him with open arms and went on bantering. They were finally all home for the first time in what seemed like a long while. It felt like some sort of homecoming party in way. Myka just smiled and went with it, feeling warm.

As she headed up to bed later that night she was still smiling. She sighed when she reached her door. She was going to have to tell Claudia and Steve about the side effect of the metronome soon. But that could wait another day. Not when they were all happy for the first time in a while.

She slipped into bed and shut her eyes. She sincerely hoped that Helena was having more luck with the pen than she was with the search for a way to save the Warehouse.  Myka supposed she would be finding out soon as sleep started to overtake her.

 


	32. Chapter 32

Helena slipped into the car with a silent Claudia beside her. She plugged in Harvard’s address into the GPS that had been included with the rental car. Claudia looked out the window as the scenery started to whip past. She wished that there was something she could do to comfort the girl, but she knew better. The last thing she had wanted while grieving for Christina had been comfort. She had wanted help to bring her back, or at least avenge her death. She was doing what she could to help Claudia for now. She had promised to help and she was there for her in the meantime. Words and meaningless platitudes would do no good now.

They arrived on campus about twenty minutes later. Claudia climbed out of the car stiffly and started walking towards the offices. Helena jogged to catch up with her, slinging a bag full of Warehouse mission supplies around her shoulder.

“He probably worked in one of the Applied Science and Engineering buildings. Maybe McKay or Cruft.”

“How do you know that?” Helena asked.

Claudia barely shrugged her shoulders. “I was a smart kid. I looked into colleges once upon a time. Plus, you know, I googled a few things last night.”

“Ah, I see. Once upon a time you wanted to go here?”

“What kid doesn’t think about going to Harvard at some point?”

“Most people in my day didn’t even finish secondary school. It’s still a little strange to think almost everyone in this century does, let alone thinks about university.”

Claudia just grunted her reply.

They reached the main office and Helena turned the charm up to high and set to work weaseling the information that she needed out of the rather handsome, if a little slow on the uptake, secretary in front of her. Perhaps the fact that he was tripping on his words was her fault. She did have the flattery and eye lash batting on high. Still, it was rather trying to have to repeat every other sentence. She got what she needed, though, despite the small bit of trouble.

She turned back to Claudia and set off out of the building.  Helena handed Claudia the map the man had marked both where Witten’s former office and lab were. Claudia glanced at the map once before turning and setting off in a new direction. Helena followed closely, matching the red head’s quick pace.

“His office is in Cruft his lab is in McKay.” A ghost of a smile flitted across her face.

“How far are they from each other?”

“Not far, they’re actually both connected to LISE so it won’t be hard to move between them if need be.”

“Good. Let us hope the pen is somewhere in those two buildings then. I’m not sure I want to check all of the applied science and engineering buildings.”

“No, that wouldn’t be cool,” Claudia said shortly.

Helena took that as a sign that Claudia didn’t want any more conversation and shut her mouth even though she had a few questions. They could wait.

They arrived at McKay fifteen minutes later. Claudia was a little out of breath from walking so fast, but paid no mind, and practically burst into McKay. She slowed marginally once they were inside, but only so much that she wouldn’t draw much attention. She charged down the hall, earning a few passing glances, but from the sparse crowds in the hall Helena had a feeling that class change had just happened, so a rushing student wasn’t so far from normal.

The young woman pulled up short a few hallways and a set of stairs later. Her eyes flicked up at the sign above the door. It was lit up red reading “No Entrance When Sign is Lit.” Claudia huffed and went to lean on the other wall, watching the sign.

Helena went to lean by her. “How long do you think that will be on?”

“Dunno, could be until lunch.”

“Why don’t we just knock then?”

Claudia snorted. “How would you have felt if someone interrupted you in the middle of your research?”

Helena pursed her lips. “Point taken. They won’t do us any favors if we get on their bad side.”

“Yeah.”

“Perhaps we should check his office first then?”

Claudia shrugged. “Whatever.”

“Lead the way then.” Helena gestured in what she thought was the right direction.

Claudia brushed past her in the opposite direction and led them through a walk way into a much more modern building. Here people were bustling around so they blended in well. All they were missing it seemed was a stack of papers, books, or a book bag and they would just be another face in the crowd.

The younger woman led them down another few turns and into another walkway where people thinned out again. They went back into another building that seemed like it was from around the time she had bronzed herself. Helena laughed internally at what they had thought was so modern and progressive back then compared with the technology of the day. It made the building look utterly quaint.

Another turn and a set of stairs and they were in front of an office. Claudia tried the door knob, but it was locked. She glanced at a cork board nailed up beside the door and groaned.

“The professor who has this office now doesn’t even have office hours today.”

“Well, that’s quite alright, darling.” Helena dug around in the bag she had slung around her shoulder and pulled out a set of lock picks. She held them up triumphantly. “It always helps to be prepared.”

“Do you just always carry around lock picks on Warehouse missions?” Claudia stepped back and let Helena set to work.

“Well, yes, usually. They’re devilishly handy.”

A faint laugh escaped Claudia’s mouth. “I can’t say I disagree in this case.”

Helena slipped in the picks and set to work adjusting the tumblers to the right height. While the building itself was of her era the locks surely weren’t. Good thing she was fast study. She had the door open in under two minutes. She swung it open dramatically.

“After you.” She gestured for Claudia to enter the small office first.

Claudia walked in and flopped down in the desk chair. Helena extracted the lock picks from the lock and shut the door behind her. She went to the book shelves and started to pull books to look behind them.  She made sure to keep them in the order she pulled them from the shelves. Helena didn’t want it to be too obvious that they had been there, even if they would probably be far away by the time whoever owned this office now came back.

Claudia behind her rustled through all of the desk drawers one by one. She heard files swish against each other and various other office supplies scuffle together. The red head huffed once and moved on as Helena kept sorting through books. For a small office, the professor who resided here certainly kept quite a few.

The younger woman started to walk around the room, peering in cracks and cervices between furniture and walls, under everything, seemingly any place she could think of to check. She finished her survey just as Helena reached the last bookshelf.

“I don’t think it’s here, H.G. It must be in his lab if it’s here.”

“Hold on one more second, darling. I still have this bookshelf to check through and then we may move on.”

Claudia sighed heavily and leaned against the door. “Sure.”

Helena pulled out the first three books and set them down. Something fell from between the pages of the second book in the stack. She glanced down at the object and smiled. The Brit pulled out a static bag and bent down to scoop up the pen.

She held up the pen, gripped carefully in the foil of the static bag. “I don’t think moving on to Witten’s old lab will be necessary.”

“That’s it?” Claudia’s brow furrowed.

“Yes.”

“Funny. I thought it would look…I dunno more menacing? Or at least more physics-y.”

“Artifacts never appear as they should. They’re wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

“Yeah, but at least Poe’s pen was all dramatic and feathery. That looks like something that a college would give me if they really wanted me to come to their school.”

Helena laughed. “At one time I do believe that might just be what this pen was to Edward Witten.”

“Go figure. Evil college pens.” Claudia pushed off the door. “Let’s go then. If we hurry we should still be able to get back to the Warehouse by tonight. Maybe even at a reasonable hour.”

“Coming, darling.”

Helena placed the books where she had found them and tucked the pen actually inside the static bag. She turned around and faced Claudia once more when she was done.

“Lead the way.”

Claudia rolled her eyes and stepped back into the hallway. Helena followed and stopped Claudia from charging down the hall once more. The red head shot her a mildly irritated look, but stopped short.

“It would only be courteous to lock the door.” Helena fell to her knees once more once she had made sure the hall was clear. Again she pulled out her lock picks and made quick work of relocking the door. She rose again and turned back to Claudia who was all but tapping her foot. “All done.”

Claudia turned without a word and practically shot down the hall. Helena sighed and followed along once more. She would be glad when Agent Jinks was back and she would be able to stop walking so bloody fast. She was quite tired of going places just under a jog. It was onerous at best.

They made it back to the car in record time and Helena had them shooting off towards the airport once more while Claudia booked their tickets on her smartphone.

 

They arrived at the B&B in the late evening. As soon as Helena stopped the car Claudia was out and walking into the building, leaving Helena in the dust. By the time she made it in the building the red head was nowhere to be seen. She scowled. She had thought that Claudia would have wanted to get started searching for the metronome right off, but since the girl was nowhere to be seen, she guessed her suspicions had been wrong.

She walked up the stairs to her room and set her things down slowly, feeling exhaustion weighing down on her. Helena thought even if Claudia did seek her out soon to start searching or hacking or whatever have you, she wouldn’t be of much use. She needed at least a nap to be fully functional again.

Helena changed into pjs and unceremoniously flopped onto her bed. The red head knew where to find her if she wanted her. Her eyes closed and soon she was gone into a world of black.

 

Waking up in the dream world was almost second nature now. This time, though, she was curled around another sleeping form, not alone like normal. She smiled and cuddled further into Myka’s from. There was no real need to wake up completely just yet. She was comfortable, why change it?

Myka started to shift under her. “Helena?” she mumbled sleepily.

“Yes, darling?” she replied, voice drowsy, syllables pulling at odd places.

Myka blinked a few times and took a deep breath. “Hi.”

“Hello.” Helena refused to open her eyes once again and snuggled into Myka. “Must we get up, darling? I’m so terribly comfortable.”

“Me too.”

“Then I think perhaps we should just spend the remainder of the dream like this, what do you say?”

“As long as we can still talk.”

“It’s not optimal, but I think I shall be able to handle that caveat.”

“Good. How did the pen search today go? Did you find it?”

“Indeed we did, it was in his old office at Harvard.”

Myka snorted. “Of course it would be in three completely different places in three separate universes. It wasn’t even in the same type of room twice.”

“At least we were lucky that it remained on college campuses. That would have been quite a messy search if it had not.”

Myka winced. “Point taken.”

“How is the search for a solution to the Warehouse problem going, darling?”

“Not well, Leena, Claudia, Steve, Pete, and I searched files all day today, but we didn’t get too far. It’s a little much for five people to search through all the left over files from the Warehouse. There are just so many.”

“Perhaps I can set my own crew on it as well now that I’m back.”

“Yeah, I was thinking maybe I could tell you what’d we’d searched through so we’d be searching through twice the files at the same time?”

“That’s a brilliant idea, darling.”

Myka smiled brightly. “Thanks.”

“What have you searched through so far?”

“We made it through one file box today and a little bit of another. The numbers here were A-2954 and G-3601. If they aren’t the same where you are we’re going to have to figure out something else. I can tell you the artifact files I read through just in case.”

“Better to tell me those now, darling, to make sure even if the boxes are numbered to same they have the same contents. Everything seems to be just slightly shifted between our two different universes, just enough to mess everything up, but not enough to be significantly different.”

Myka nodded. “There was a file on Yogi Berra’s jockstrap, Liliuokalani’s crown, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s pipe, Alexander the Great’s sword, Henry the VIII’s pendant, and a few others. That should hopefully give you enough to see if the boxes are the same. I can give you a more comprehensive list tomorrow if need be.”

“Hopefully that will do, darling. I hope this is one of the things that manages to stay the same between universes, I really do. It will be a pain in the arse if not.”

Myka snorted. “That might be an understatement. As real as these dreams are we can’t bring anything into them or out of them. The lists we’d be giving each other would have to be memorized.”

Helena titled her head to the side, thinking deeply for a few seconds. “Have we really tried to bring anything into a dream? Or tried to take anything back for that matter?”

Myka’s brow crinkled. “I don’t remember trying to do so, but Helena these are just dreams even if they’re a little out of the ordinary.”

“But they have physical consequences, Myka. We kiss in the dreams and we wake up with kiss bruised lips. I’ve been able to taste you still some mornings. Perhaps if we did try to bring a list it would actually make it over with us.”

“How would that even work? We end up here, but our clothing doesn’t most of the time.” Myka looked down at what she was wearing, a matching shirt and shorts set made out of the softest fabric she’d ever felt. “Because I can tell you this isn’t what I fell asleep in. It’s not exactly warm yet in South Dakota.”

Helena bit her lip and looked down at her own attire. It was different as well. “This is true.” Something that Myka had said tickled at the back of her mind. She let her mind go blank and let her thoughts unfold as they willed. A light bulb went off a half a minute later. “Myka, we end up here, our bodies anyway, or at least some odd manifestation of them. Perhaps if we held onto the list it would make it here.”

Myka looked a little skeptical. “Well, it’s at least worth a shot.”

“Good. Try it tomorrow, then.”

“I will.” She glanced at Helena. “So you’ll start looking tomorrow?”

Helena hesitated for a second. “I promised I would help my Claudia bring back Agent Jinks. I’m bound by that first, but I suspect Artie will be keeping us all on short leashes, so I might be doing two things at once. Perhaps I should have Claudia and I do two things at once anyway…it does drawl suspicions away from our activities.”

 “Artie will be watching her like a hawk, I know he is here. Then again, my Claudia actually already managed to bring Jinks back.”

“Yes, so then I suppose I will start searching tomorrow, if only to look into the two file cases you gave me to make sure they’re the same.”

“It’s a plan then.” Myka smiled.

Helena smiled back and placed a gentle kiss on Myka’s lips before laying back down and pulling Myka to her. “Good. Now, why don’t we go back to doing what we were before business so rudely interrupted us.”

Myka laughed, but scooted a little father back into Helena and sighed. “That sounds like a plan, too.”

Helena wrapped her arms around Myka’s waist and buried her face in Myka’s curls, smelling her strawberry shampoo. She stayed like that, holding Myka in a way she never really had before until the dream faded to black, leaving her all alone once more.

 

 


	33. Chapter 33

Myka awoke rested and satisfied in a way she hadn’t felt before. Cuddling up to Helena like that had been so entirely new and different, not at all like she had felt when she’d cuddled with Sam. It was…better somehow, even if it was only in a dream that almost bordered on reality induced by an artifact.

She sat up and got ready for the day, choosing comfortable clothes in light of having to spend yet another day sitting at the kitchen table sorting through a pile of files. At a box and a half a day they were going to be weeks sitting at the table day after day reading. It wasn’t exactly something she was looking forward to at all.

Myka slipped downstairs, finding Leena making breakfast and Steve sitting at the table sipping coffee. She went over and fixed herself a cup, side stepping Leena as she danced through the kitchen cooking. She sat down at her normal place and smiled up at Jinks.

She would have to tell them today what the side effects of the metronome were. Steve was not going to like it at all. Claudia was going to be resolute that everything was worth it. If everything went the same as they had back at home it was going to be quite the showdown. Myka sighed and stirred her coffee. That was the last thing she wanted, but it was for the greater good. At least with her knowledge they wouldn’t have to try and figure out just what Jinks had to do to “return to his heart,” even if he wasn’t going to like that either.

The other agents filed in one by one, Artie coming in last, grumpier than ever. Myka restrained another sigh. If he was going to be on her case even more today, it was going to be even more fun. They all sat down just as Leena placed breakfast in front of them.

They set to eating while Myka twirled her food around her plate and wondered when the best time to drop the bomb about the metronome was, if there ever was going to be a “better” time. She shook her head slightly. There probably wasn’t ever going to be a good time for this.

She opened her mouth to start speaking but for a few seconds nothing came out.

“Guys, there’s something that you should know about the metronome,” she finally managed to say in a subdued voice.

“What do you mean?” Claudia was quick to ask.

Myka bit her lip. She wondered if it was better to show than tell, but then again that would just end up hurting Claudia, even if all she did was give her a paper cut. She really didn’t want to do that.

“The side effect. All artifacts have side effects.”

“Well, yeah, but I mean how bad can it be? Marcus was alive for god knows how long and it wasn’t as if people were dropping dead around him in order to keep him alive.” Claudia shrugged.

Jinks just regarded Myka quietly, waiting for her to continue, his expression carefully controlled.

“That’s because the artifact’s side effect only affects the person who brought the other back from the dead, not the people around them.”

“What do you mean?” Jinks finally spoke up.

“If you get hurt, whatever injury you incur gets transferred to Claudia. You get a paper cut, it appears on her hands. You get shot, she’s the one who has the bullet in her. You get mortally wounded…well you get the point.”

“And you knew about this the whole time? And you didn’t tell us?” Jinks stared at her, eyes burning into hers.

Claudia just sat stunned in her seat.

“Before we got back you were with the Regents, so there was nothing really I could do. When we got back…I just wanted you guys to have a happy reunion before I dropped the bomb. I’ve just been trying to find a good time.”

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe there wasn’t really a good time, Mykes.” Claudia’s hands gripped the table so hard they turned white.

“Just now, honestly.”

“You should have told us the second you got back and saw me!” Jinks exclaimed. “What would have happened if I’d accidently hurt myself and injured Claudia instead? How do you think I would have felt?”

“I’m sorry.” Myka hung her head.

Jinks pulled in a few deep breaths. “Alright. Well, now that we know we can try to prevent anything from happening.” He paused a few seconds. “Or just take me off the metronome. It’s not worth the risk.”

“What?!” Claudia stood up quickly, knocking her chair over. “Of course it’s worth it! You’re alive. Who cares what the side effects are! We can find some way around it, some way to fix it. It’ll be fine.”

“What if it isn’t, Claudia? I don’t want you getting hurt for me!” Jinks stood up too.

“Guys,” Myka interjected quietly.

The two of them went on, not having heard her.

“We’ll be careful! It’s not like I can’t take a few paper cuts and bruises. It’ll be fine Jinksy. All that matters is you’re alive.”

“And what about when we have to go on field work, Claud? How can we be careful out in the field, it’s not exactly like every mission we go on goes the way we want it. They’re unpredictable! We could get hurt without meaning to, and the injuries on missions will be more than a few paper cuts and bruises. It’s not worth it!” Jinks’s hands clenched at his sides.

“I won’t lose you again!” Claudia was red in the face from yelling.

“Guys!” Myka exclaimed a little louder this time.

“If I stay around here I won’t be living! To keep you safe I’d have to just stay in the Warehouse doing inventory or something. That’s not what I want, Claud, that’s some sort of half-life.”

Claudia sniffed a couple times. “We can find a way to fix it, Jinksy. I’ll find a way to fix it.”

“Uh, guys?” Myka waved her hands through the air.

“What?” They both whipped towards her.

“I know a way to fix everything and separate Jinks from the metronome?” Myka’s voice rose at the end like she was asking a question instead of making a statement.

“Why didn’t you say that in the first place?” Claudia crossed her arms in front of her.

“Because you guys were off to the races before I could really say much? I’ve been trying to get your attention for a couple minutes or so.”

Steve sat down in his chair. “Fine then, what’s the solution.”

Myka sighed. “You aren’t going to like it.”

“I like hurting Claudia less.”

“In my universe the Jinks there had to “return to his heart” in order to separate from the metronome. We found that piece of info while researching Johan Maetzel, the original owner of the metronome. Or, well, our Artie did, anyway.”

Jinks’s eyes narrowed.

“What does that even mean?” Claudia asked, setting her chair upright once more.

“For our Jinks it meant that he had to go back home and reconcile with his mother.”

Claudia looked over at Jinks. Jinks’s muscles in his jaw were drawn tight as a bow string. Myka wasn’t quite sure how that didn’t hurt.

After a long moment he spoke up. “Alright. I’ll go, but if it doesn’t work we’re going to stop the metronome and that’s that. I won’t risk Claudia’s life just to keep myself alive.”

Claudia looked ready to argue, but backed down, saving the arguing for another day. With any luck it was an argument that wouldn’t have to happen. Myka hoped her advice to reconcile with his mother was one of those things that transcended universes.

Once all of them fell quiet once more breakfast resumed. Pete and Leena, who had been oddly quite during the exchange tried to strike up a conversation, but it fell flat. Artie, for his part kept shooting glances at Myka. Myka couldn’t quite figure out what his expressions meant, but with how he’d been treating her lately, it probably wasn’t good. She sighed and went on eating her now lukewarm breakfast.

 

They resumed the search for a fix for their Warehouse issue after the breakfast dishes were cleared away, sans Claudia and Jinks who were making plans to travel to Jinks’s hometown as soon as possible. With only her, Pete, Leena, and intermittently Artie, it was going slower than the day before. Myka desperately hoped that Helena’s file box numbers matched up with hers so this search could at least go marginally faster.

For now Myka let her eyes follow Artie in and out the room between reading files, wondering just exactly it was that the older man was doing on his trips to other parts of the B&B. After he disappeared from sight once more she let her eyes drift back down to the file she was reading, Queen Elizabeth I’s corset, good for driving off the enemies of the English empire with horrendous storms, not so good for saving the Warehouse. She closed the file and huffed. How exactly was she supposed to get any work done like this? She was far too distracted, and that was saying something since she could read right through Pete’s incessant commentary on some idiotic TV show or other.

She stood and walked into the kitchen proper and fixed herself a glass of juice, sipping it while watching Pete and Leena worked silently. Myka glanced at the doorway that Artie had just exited. Maybe if she went after him and satisfied her curiosity about what he was doing she could focus again. Then she could sit down once more and plow through a pile of files and be that much closer to being home with her own grumpy Artie, the one who didn’t seem to have a personal grudge against her, and occasionally fed her oatmeal scotchies. And with Helena. That last one was the most important, but she really would be glad to get her own Artie back, too.

She pushed off the counter, leaving her juice glass behind her. Myka reached the hallway and stopped. She wasn’t quite sure exactly where Artie had disappeared beyond this point and the B&B wasn’t exactly compact. She paused and listened hard. Behind her there was the rustle of paper and the light breathing of Pete and Leena, as expected. She tried to tune that out and listen for any other noises. Off to her left there was a light scraping noise. Myka’s eyes snapped open and she moved down the hall. The noise got louder the farther she went until she stood in front of a door she hadn’t ever bothered to go in before. Except maybe once when Pete the ferret had gotten out and she’d gone looking for him. Little bugger ended up in the ceiling somehow.

She shook herself and scowled at the closed door. Well, she wasn’t going to get any answers with a closed door and Artie inside. She stepped back farther into the hall and gnawed at the inside of her lip, to stay or to go, that was the question.

Myka took a deep breath and closed her eyes once more. What was in that room that Artie had to work with? Pictures filled her mind of various parts of the B&B. She filtered out the ones she knew by heart and then mentally looked at what was left, sorting out the ones that didn’t match the downstairs décor she was left with three possibilities. A bathroom wasn’t likely, they all used the one on the other side of the house when they were downstairs, she didn’t even think Leena stocked the one in this wing, really. An extra guest bedroom was possible as was a storage room. She looked once more at the door and squinted. Storage room, she decided. It hadn’t been that full in her world, if it wasn’t full here either Artie could have pushed everything to the side and created some sort of work space.

Now that that was deduced Myka was left standing out in the hallway with nothing left to do. She sighed and started to walk back to the kitchen. Standing there was wasting time that she could be using search for a way to save the Warehouse. She would just have to wait until Artie left the room again and came to work with them and then say she was going to bathroom and slip into the room and take a quick look around.

Myka nodded once to confirm her decision and walked off to read another file about yet another artifact she didn’t know existed until that moment.

 

  It was a very long time until Artie decided to show his face once again, or at least it felt like it to Myka. She had only made it through a handful of files in that time, though. Her mind just wouldn’t leave what was going on in that room. Myka’s brain was imagining all sorts of horrible scenarios that were probably not in the least true, but that didn’t stop the images. What if Artie was trying test after test until he found one that disproved everything that Myka had said? Was he really that desperate?

No, no matter what Artie wasn’t like that, even if they were in a different universe. He was just being his normal stubborn self and not believing until the very last second, that was all.

But still the images raged on.

So when Artie finally sat down in his seat again Myka waited just long enough not to seem suspicious and stood from her chair, muttering ‘bathroom’ under her breath and slipping from the room. Once in the hall she padded lightly down the hall, barely making a sound. It wasn’t the first, nor the last time she was thankful for her Secret Service training. Made the whole stealth mission thing that much easier.

Once she was at the door again she tried the handle and surprisingly found it unlocked. She had figured Artie would have locked the door. He was just a little bit paranoid after all. But for right then she was thankful that he had forgone his usual safety measures. Helena was the one with lock picking experience. She only had a few lessons under her belt and wasn’t exactly in the mood to get caught practicing.

She slipped inside quickly and shut the door behind her quietly. When she turned she frowned. It was still a mess in the room. Myka wasn’t exactly sure what was Artie’s and what was junk that belonged to the room originally. She walked around the room and tried to determine what was covered with a thin layer of dust and what wasn’t, but that wasn’t helpful either. There didn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason to what had been used recently, or at least that she could see.

Myka let out a deep breath. She didn’t even see how any of the junk around her could be used to test the pen for artifact properties. She looked back over everything again. Unless…everything in here was also some type of artifact. She had been over files and files of artifacts that were things that no one would ever think would be important, but somehow were turned into artifacts. Myka didn’t exactly have a static bag to test her theory. But if they were artifacts why were they just sitting out in the open in the B&B?

The door opened behind her and Myka froze. There was not exactly anywhere to hide in the room that she wouldn’t be seen at one point or another. She was better to just stay put and not look guilty.

That was if she could. She felt like the cat that got caught with the canary. It seemed like a century before Artie saw her and spoke up.

“What are you doing in here?”

“Would you believe searching for Pete the ferret?”

“You don’t have a ferret.”

Myka’s brow scrunched. “I don’t? Not from the first day and that stupid tea pot that grants wishes unless it’s impossible and then gives you a ferret instead? I wished to go back to DC and not be assigned to the Warehouse anymore. I got a ferret instead. I named him Pete.”

Artie shook his head. “I know the artifact that you’re talking about but it was lost on the way over from Warehouse 12. The ship it was on wrecked in the middle of the Atlantic and it wasn’t ever recovered.”

“Oh. Well. At home, that happened. So.” Myka shuffled her feet slightly. That had been a long shot in the best case, but now not only did only Artie know she was straight out lying, but she had managed to bring up the other universe in one fell swoop. She mentally slapped herself. There was no way she was getting out of the room without some sort of argument. Great, just what she wanted to avoid.

“What are you really doing in here?” Artie crossed his arms.

Myka rocked back on her heels. “I got curious what you kept disappearing into the ether to do.”

“And you decided skulking around instead of just asking me was the best plan.” He cocked a bushy eyebrow.

“Well, it’s not like you would have told me anyway. It’s not exactly escaped my notice that you don’t trust me in the slightest. Everyone else has noticed, too.”

“And what grounds have you given me that you can be trusted since the Warehouse exploded? You had a psychotic break, Myka.”

“But you know that’s not true now!” Her voice raised a couple of decibels. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice again. “The tests confirm that the pen is an artifact. An _active_ artifact. How can you still think I’m in the middle of some sort of psychotic break when there’s proof that I’m completely sane? Artie, we work for the Warehouse, this really isn’t that much weirder than the spine of Saracen that turned people into killing machines or the fact that Pandora’s box is a real thing. Oh no, complex physics couldn’t turn anything into an artifact, that just wouldn’t make sense.” Myka took another deep breath.

“The tests prove that the artifact is active. It does not prove that you are the one that it’s affecting.”

“And all the stories I have that don’t match up with your version of me, Artie? What about those? Did I know about the teapot before the Warehouse blew up? Did I just come up with all these fake memories overnight that just so happened to be right artifact-wise? It’s not like I have a codex in my head of every artifact ever. I’m pretty sure if that was true I would have just found us a solution to our Warehouse problem by now and fixed everything right up instead of sitting at the kitchen table reading about Yogi Berra’s jock strap for god’s sake.”

“I don’t know what kind of research you could have done in your spare time. You could be pulling from that.”

“Except when do I ever do research on artifacts that I’m not actively chasing? I love knowledge, Artie, we both know that, but working for the Warehouse is my _job_. When I’m not working I’m reading anything besides case files and old artifact reports. Have you ever caught me interested in doing more research? Have you ever caught me looking through the files that are scattered on the kitchen table right now? No, Artie you haven’t. You’ve seen me with every single one of Dickens’s novels, the complete works of Shakespeare on more than one occasion, H.G. Wells books more often than not, but never artifact case files. Why can’t you just accept that I’m telling the truth? This isn’t exactly the time for us to be divided! We need to save the Warehouse and it’ll go a lot faster if you pull your head out of your ass and help us instead of trying to split your time between helping us and trying to prove that I’m mentally unstable.”

Artie stared at her for a long moment. “Why haven’t you gone back to your world if the pen is affecting you? You could have disappeared almost three days ago. Why didn’t you?”

“Because, Artie. Helena and I came to an agreement that we would save the Warehouse in our respective universes before we came home. You guys may not be our exact family, but you’re our family. And families help each other out even if it might inconvenience them for a little while.”

“What if there isn’t a way to bring back the Warehouse?”

The way that Artie was holding himself, so still and quiet was unnerving. Myka wasn’t sure what exactly was going on. Artie wasn’t a quiet guy. He was loud and boisterous and argumentative. Quiet wasn’t how he played the game.

Unless he was up to something. Then it was like radio silence. Myka felt her guard ratchet up about ten levels.

“Then we address that when we get there. But for now that’s the plan and we’re sticking to it.”

Artie hummed noncommittally. “Well, as you can see there’s nothing here really, so you can go back to reading files with everyone else.”

Myka took one more look around the room. Now she was sure something was here in the room that she was missing, but she couldn’t find it. There was no way she was getting back into this room either to figure it out. Artie was going to be on high alert every time she left the kitchen from now on.

“Sure.” She started to walk towards the door. Artie moved out of the way to let her pass. Once she reached the door she turned around again. “You know Artie, I don’t know exactly what happened between you and Macpherson once upon a time, but I can guess. And you know, just because you didn’t get your happy ending? Doesn’t mean that other people don’t. No matter how crazy the circumstances. And don’t tell me that that isn’t what this is about. This hostility started after the hologram of Macpherson. It got worse after I started claiming that everything was real, even worse after I had proof. So don’t you dare lie to me.”

She opened the door. “Really, the only thing that this whole ordeal is proving? Is that you’re the one who’s a little insane. Maybe you should think about that instead of this witch hunt to prove I’m nutters.”

She shut the door behind her and walked back to the kitchen and sat down with a heavy sigh and set to reading once more. This time she could focus, but she wasn’t exactly sure that was an improvement every time she caught a glimpse of Artie’s empty chair. God, she hoped they found something soon. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could take this. She opened another file. Maybe this one would contain the answer that would send her back to Helena.

She crossed her fingers and started to read.

 

 


	34. Chapter 34

Helena woke up in her own bed at the B&B for once in her life. Or at least her bed in this world. Maybe they were one and same.

She shook her head, that was not what was important right then. Helena sat up and looked around the room, stretching. Today she had to get the group searching, if they even had the file boxes like Myka’s universe did. It would be rather unfortunate if they didn’t. She bit the inside of her lip, that was one possibility that she and Myka had not thought of during their dream together. Then again, she had been too focused on just cuddling with Myka at the time so it wasn’t really surprise.

She sighed and got ready. They would cross that bridge when they got to it, but for now she just had to talk to Artie and start something, anything really that would give their search some momentum. Helena hoped that Claudia was asleep somewhere, still. She didn’t want to have a conversation with the young red head right then. It would blow what little cover they had. Artie already knew Claudia was coming, the only advantage they had left was that he didn’t know that Helena was now working with her.

She slipped out her door and down the stairs into the kitchen. Leena was there cooking for everyone, but everyone else either hadn’t headed downstairs yet or was still asleep. Helena walked up to the island and sat herself down on one of the stools.

“Has Artie left?” she asked.

“No, I think he’s still asleep. I haven’t seen anyone up besides you today.”

Helena nodded. “Just us early risers then.”

Leena shot her an indulgent smile. “Right, morning people.”

“I take it the version of me that normally resides here isn’t quite the morning person either, then?”

“Not in the slightest. The only one you’ll wake up for is Myka.”

Helena snorted. “Well, that’s not surprising. Things do stay constant between universes it seems.”

“I don’t know whether to find that comforting or slightly disturbing. You would think different universes would be completely different.”

“Mmm, so common sense would tell you, but it seems reality is yet again defiant of expectations.”

Leena slid a glass of orange juice in front of Helena. “Artie will probably be up as soon as I put the coffee on. I’ve found its aroma has magical awakening powers when it comes to him.”

She smiled at Leena. “I can think of worse wake up calls.”

“Le’na?” A sleepy Claudia walked into the room, rubbing her eyes. “Why didn’tya wake me up?” She yawned widely.

“Because you needed the sleep,” Leena replied easily, turning to put on the coffee maker.

Helena’s eyebrows scrunched slightly. She felt as if she was missing something significant going on between the two women in front of her.

“I would have rather been with you than asleep.”

A light bulb went off over Helena’s head. Ah, so in Myka’s universe Artie was gay, in hers it seemed Leena and Claudia were. She looked between them a few times. Claudia was now leaning against the counter, still in her pj top and shorts, smiling slightly at the other woman. Leena would send her glowing looks every time she turned around from whatever task she had been doing. She had to admit they did make quite the striking couple.

The corners of Helena’s mouth rose slightly. It was amazing what could change even if only seemingly tiny things shifted. She remembered back to the bet the Claudia had spoken of, much the same as the one she had made at home and smiled wider. It was even more amazing what stayed the same. It seemed that she and Myka were constant no matter what universe they were in.

Soon the kitchen filled with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Helena inhaled deeply and sighed, content. The scent of coffee always had been rather comforting. And as promised within a few minutes Artie was shuffling his way into the kitchen, looking barely awake, but dressed all the same.

Leena handed him a cup of coffee as he shuffled by to the kitchen table. He grunted his thanks and sat down. Helena waited until he had downed half the cup before slipping into her normal seat.

“So Myka and I were talking last night, it seems the team in her universe has started searching for a fix for our Warehouse issue as well. They’re a couple days ahead since I took longer to find the pen than Myka did, but perhaps if we coordinate with them the search could go at least marginally faster.”

Artie nodded. “That sounds like a solid plan. What are they searching through?”

“File boxes. Their electronic database was destroyed, as were most of the files, but there were some off site that survived.”

“I know the ones you’re talking about, but part of our database still exists, though not the whole thing, so we can search that as well. I’m sure it will need repairs before that can happen, however.”

Helena smirked internally. Perfect. “I’m sure Claudia will be up to handling it. Perhaps to expedite our search through the files as well we could have one of us scan them into the database as well whilst Claudia is repairing the damage?”

“Good, but while that’s going on everyone else can search manually just so there are no idle hands. Human eyes might find something technology doesn’t catch.”

“Sounds like a plan. I can scan them for Claudia, the two of us make a rather good team.”

“Alright, I’ll get the files today from storage. Claudia,” He called over to the girl.

The red head turned around, glaring at the older man. “Yeah.”

“You know how to get to the reserve database?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good, start fixing the problems the crash of the Warehouse mainframe left and set up a scanning station for H.G. somewhere near you. Library, would be good.”

“Fine.”

“I’ll help you with whatever you need.” Helena shot the girl a significant look.

Claudia looked her over carefully. “Alright. After breakfast.” She walked out of the room and back to Leena’s room, ostensibly to get changed for the day.

Artie huffed and sipped his now lukewarm coffee once more. He set the mug down. “I’m going to run some tests on the pen to determine how it works and maybe see if I can find how you’re supposed to use it to get back. Also some tests just to completely confirm that this pen is the artifact you think.”

Helena nodded. “Fair enough.” A thought flitted across her mind. “Artie…do you think any other versions of yourself would run these same tests?”

“Yes, it’s standard procedure if the artifact obtained isn’t gotten through a ping.”

“I see.” She wondered how Myka was fairing with her own Artie. Probably not well from what she had ascertained of the other Artie’s behavior.

“Why?”

“Idle curiosity, nothing more.”

“Ah.” He didn’t sound like he believed her, but he let it be.

Helena spent the rest of breakfast once more worried about Myka. Maybe the policy wasn’t the same in her universe. Gods knew that Myka didn’t need any more reasons for her Artie to distrust her, but an unsettled feeling still remained Helena’s in stomach while she forced down her eggs and toast.

Artie disappeared shortly after the plates were cleared, the sound of jingling keys and the clicking of the front door following his vanishing act. Claudia was on her the second she heard the engine of Artie’s car starting and moving away. Helena wasn’t surprised. She sat, blank faced, looking up at the girl who towered over her, still sitting in her normal chair.

“What the hell, H.G.? You’re supposed to be helping me, not signing me up for extra assignments!”

Helena’s eyes flicked over to Leena, cleaning quietly on the other side of the room. Idly, she wondered if they should be having this conversation in front of the other woman. She would know about the plans Claudia had and the deal she had struck with Helena if they continued talking. Then again, Helena would have told Myka had she had such plans. She figured that Leena was probably one of the safest people to talk around besides Claudia and herself. She glanced back to Claudia.

“I am helping you by doing that exact thing. Artie will be watching your every move. It looks quite a lot less suspicious if you’re ostensibly spending your time on an actual Warehouse mission, while working on the mission to save Agent Jinks.”

Claudia scowled. “Sure, fine, whatever, but how the frack will I have time to look for a back door into the server holding the files on the metronome if I’m working on something else?”

“Wherever the database is stored it will be somewhere with quite a lot more computing power than your little lap top, will it not?”

“Well, duh.”

“While you’re making your repairs can’t you…tweak it so it will help you find the back door you’re looking for?”

Claudia squinted at her in thought. “A simultaneous server patch and scout. Hmm.” She sat down at the table and set her elbows on the surface. “It might work. It could cover more ground than I could more quickly. I might even be able to rig it so it looks like it’s part of the Warehouse mainframe just searching the files for something to save the Warehouse as instructed. It’s possible, but I’m going to need a couple of days to set it all up and test it out to make sure we’re not going to draw red flags. If you think that keeping it on the DL the best option, anyway.”

“I do. Artie must think that you’ve given up the search now after so many failed attempts for this to go off without a hitch. You need the metronome and Agent Jinks body as well. Are you sure that that information is contained in the same database as the information about the metronome?”

“No.”

“Exactly. If we have to search for his body we need them not to know we’re coming, to not even think it a possibility anymore. They might not relax their security, but they won’t tighten it and that is quite important at this juncture since it’s causing you so much trouble now.”

Claudia nodded stiffly. “But it’s going to take so much longer to do this way.”

“It is. But it’s better to do this the right way, no?”

“I guess.” Claudia sunk down, crossing her arms and resting her chin on them. “But when I asked you for help I sort of hoped that you’d go all crazy H.G. and just kick ass and take names until they gave us the information we wanted.”

Helena smiled. “No, darling, that comes when you hold all the cards, or at least enough of them that you can bluff convincingly. In order to get that many cards you have to be patient and stealthy at first.”

“Sometimes you’re a little scary when you’re in scheming mode, you know?”

She shrugged. “So I’ve been told.” Helena pushed back from the table. “Shall we get started then? I’ll do as much of the set up as I can so you can have as much time to program as necessary, just tell me where everything we will need is and I’ll get to it.”

“We’re going to need to scavenge for a lot of stuff. The Warehouse took a lot of our tech supplies with it, but there’s enough junk lying around that we can MacGyver something probably vaguely steampunk-y looking, but functional enough. For some things anyway, we still do have a scanner.” She stood up. “I’ll help get everything together you’re gonna need. From there I think you’re crazy genius brain will be up to the task.”

“Crazy genius brain applies to both of us, darling.”

She snorted. “Yeah, but I didn’t invent a time machine in the Victorian era. You still win the award, dude.”

They walked out of the room together, leaving a smiling Leena behind them, looking on.

 

Helena was neck deep in different types of wires an hour later. She had to admit electrical cables had improved in her time in bronze, but they hadn’t changed overmuch. For that, at this very instant she was thankful as she spliced two together and wrapped them up together again.

The fiber optics cable that Claudia had shown her that would connect them to the internet, however, was a different matter. She would have to be much more careful with that, if she didn’t have Claudia do it for fear of ruining their limited supply. Electrical cable they had enough of to sink a ship, this…FiOS cable as Claudia called it, they had just enough to get the job done.

She taped up another junction and stepped back and surveyed her work. A Frankenstein like cable led into the machine that she had spent quite a bit of time putting together. They didn’t have an automatic scanner, just one that could scan one page at a time manually, but Helena had changed that quickly with some of the parts she and Claudia had scrounged up. Now all she had to do when she was scanning in the files was feed a stack of files into the load bay and the machine did the rest, providing it didn’t get jammed. She foresaw most of the first day she used it would be dedicated to working out the kinks.

Helena stretched and looked over at Claudia, draped over the back of the couch, typing away. She walked over and perched herself on the arm.

 “How goes it?” she asked.

“The repairs themselves are actually going to be a little bit of a pain. I looked in to see where I could fit in my program and saw that everything was a wreck. Artie made it sound like it was going to be a simple fix. Yeah. Right. Of course not. Nothing in this job is simple.”

“Mmm, no, that it isn’t, but sometimes that makes it more rewarding.”

Claudia just looked up at her.

“I didn’t say in this case, darling.”

Claudia’s eyes went back to the screen. “Have you got everything set up?”

“I’ve got a start. I’ll need your help with the FiOS cable though. I don’t want to tinker with it and mess it up.”

“You got it. Just let me finish this section of code.”

Helena nodded and walked back over to her improvised scanner. Claudia finished up a bit later and strolled over. Her eyebrows rose as she looked at Helena’s new creation.

“When I said to MacGyver some stuff this isn’t what I had in mind, but I appreciate the ingenuity and initiative. The original scanner in the heart of that monster somewhere?”

Helena handed her the short FiOS cable that was already connected to the scanner. “Indeed it is.”

“Cool. Alright.” She grabbed another length of the cable and squatted down to grab a few tools that Helena had been working with earlier. The red head gestured for Helena to crouch down with her.

“So, pay attention and it won’t be much harder than dealing with regular wire. I think you’ll get it easily.”

Helena watched intently as Claudia’s hands flew over the two wires, quickly turning them into one. Once she was done Helena nodded. She had seen enough to continue on her own. Claudia plunked back down on the couch and started to type away once more.

“So, I wasn’t aware that you and Leena were courting,” Helena said after she had slowly and carefully patched together another wire onto the original. She estimated it would take probably one more before she could plug it in where it was needed.

Claudia glanced over the top of the couch. “You didn’t?”

“No. Though I do admit the two of you make quite a bit of sense.”

“The me in your home world isn’t with Leena?”

“No, as far as I’m aware the version of you that I live with prefers men to women, though that’s only my impression.” She shrugged. “I don’t believe she’s seeing anyone at the moment, anyway. I know there have been a few people, Myka’s told me, but I believe the one that was the most serious ended up having the boy go back into witness protection.”

“Dude. That sucks for me. Damn.” Her fingers stopped typing.

“Yes, so I said when Myka informed me.”

“So people can be gay in one universe and straight in another? That’s just weird.”

“Indeed. I’d love to know the science behind why, but that seems to be beyond human purview at the moment and probably will for far past my lifetime.”

“Yeah. Huh.” Claudia resumed typing. “I wonder if she’s ever thought about it…I can’t imagine not. We click so well together, you know?”

Helena smiled. “I understand entirely.” She paused for a moment. “Though as I understand it you aren’t the only one to have two different orientations in different universes. In Myka’s universe it seems that Artie fell in love with McPherson.”

“Dude! That would totally make so much sense. It’s got like a whole Dumbledore and Grindelwald vibe going on.”

Helena cocked an eyebrow.

“Right, forgot that we still haven’t had time to sit you down with the movies yet. Though the books delve more into that than the movies. Not exactly like you have time for those right now either.”

“No, I don’t suppose I do. I don’t at home either, but Myka keeps telling me I have to read them the first chance I get.” She finished wrapping the final piece of FiOS cable and attached it to the jack.

Claudia laughed. “Of course Myka would be a giant Potterhead. That makes so much frackin’ sense.”

“I’ll just be glad when I get the myriad of references that everyone makes about that series.”

“Hey, you get a lot more classic lit references than I do, tradeoffs.”

“I suppose, but after this little excursion I plan to spend quite a few days just lazing around the B&B and reading to make up for the extended amount of time I spent on this particular mission.”

“And you expect Artie to actually let you do that?” Claudia snorted.

“Perhaps not, but I’ll still have my dreams.”

“That’s about all you’ll have. Watch your next mission be in like the Arctic or something.”

“Bite your tongue or else I’ll wish that your next mission involves having to sort through paper files somewhere in the middle of nowhere with no internet and no cell phone reception.”

“Shutting up now.”

Both of them smiled at each other before turning back to their work again. Helena deemed her work with the scanner done. She needed the files to test it and work out the bugs and she needed the database up and running to see if her scans were actually clear. Both of those things required parts of the project that others were working on so she sat down and bit her lip. Hopefully, Artie would be back soon and she wouldn’t feel so useless. If she had beyond a bare notion of how a computer worked she would jump in and help Claudia, but her lessons at home with her Claudia had only gotten to the very basics of code, nothing that would help such a large project. So she sat there and waited for Artie to return, leg jiggling up and down.

 

 


	35. Chapter 35

Myka hadn’t found anything by the time she shut the last file on the table, eyes burning yet again. All she wanted was to take a nice long, hot shower and fall into bed just to wake up to Helena and maybe a cup of tea in the dream world. Or perhaps just more cuddling. Both options sounded intensely appealing.

She stood and stretched, back popping loudly. Sitting on kitchen chairs all day hadn’t done her spine any favors. The muscles in her lower back were tied up tighter than a Gordian knot. Myka strolled slowly from the room and up the stairs.

After the confrontation in Artie’s secret base the man hadn’t been seen anymore. No one else had thought it strange, but then again no one else had just confronted the older man either. His disappearing act confirmed her suspicions that she wasn’t getting back in that room any time soon.

She rubbed her hands over her face as she climbed the last few stairs. Hopefully she’d be gone before anything in that room mattered. Myka hoped if she kept repeating that in her head that it would actually come true.

She opened the door to her room and jumped back immediately. When she realized that the person sitting on her bed in the moonlight was Leena she took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart. Myka walked into her room and shut the door behind her.

“What are you doing here, Leena?” she asked, starting to wander around the room to gather her shower things.

“Something is going on between you and Artie.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. 

“Well, yeah. You were there when he basically didn’t believe me even though there was evidence to back me up.”

Leena tilted her head, curls spilling onto her shoulder. “There’s more to it. Both of your auras say so.”

“Does it matter? I mean the real issue is that he won’t believe me and it seems like he might try to find a way to make it seem like I’m lying.”

“But why would he do that?” Leena’s face remained serene.

“I don’t know. Artie’s never been an open book to me.”

“You’re lying. You know why.”

Myka glanced up from the pjs she was pulling out of a drawer. “Does my aura tell you that too?”

“It can, but I don’t need to read your aura to know you’re lying.”

“Why?”

“Because I know why Artie is trying to sabotage you as well.”

“Then why are you even here, Leena? It sort of sounded like you were here to figure out what was going on, but if you aren’t, why are you on my bed close to midnight?”

“Context is everything.”

Myka sighed. She liked Leena, she really did, but sometimes the woman was more cryptic and out there than Luna Lovegood, especially whenever it came to using whatever psychic powers she had. To say it was frustrating was a little bit of an understatement.

“Yes, well, context doesn’t make his actions any better. I can’t have him trying to trap me here, Leena. He could easily do that if he destroys the pen or makes it so it doesn’t work anymore or even if he convinces everyone that I really am crazy.”

“No, it doesn’t fix everything, but it lends understanding. And understanding could lead to some sort of solution.”

“If you understand why Artie is doing this, why don’t you just try to stop him?”

She smiled sadly. “He never listens to me, never has, really. You’re the one he has the problem with now. You’re the one who’s going to have to figure something out.”

“Leena—”        

“Trust me, it’s better this way.”

“Fine.” Myka flopped down on her bed beside Leena. “Fill me in on the context then.”

“You already know about McPherson.”

Myka nodded. “Yeah, that whole pocket watch thing made it pretty clear.”

“I don’t know how your world is, but it’s not exactly easy here to exist outside the norm. It was even worse when Artie was young. His loving McPherson…it wasn’t looked kindly upon.”

“No, I wouldn’t think it would be. It’s much the same at home. Gay rights weren’t really a thing twenty years ago.”

“Yes, well, they were less than a thing before Artie and McPherson got together. Their relationship was the first one that Artie ever had that actually had a chance of succeeding. Everyone before that…well, they didn’t end happily.”

“Yeah, a lot of older people at home have the same story, and they aren’t setting out to trap other people in different universes.”

“No, but Artie…he’s never been the same since McPherson betrayed him. Happiness was literally ripped out from under him. He’s been able to suppress most of it, but when presented with a story like yours, the story he didn’t get to have…I think it has set him off in the worst of ways. All those years of hurt are bubbling up and he’s doing things he normally wouldn’t. Love, especially lost love, does funny things to a person.”

“Leena, I get it, his life was painful, but as I said before, it’s no excuse. People are hurt, but they still should be decent people.”

Leena looked over at her. “H.G. wasn’t until you helped her come to terms with Christina’s death.”

Myka opened her mouth to respond but froze. Leena was right in a way.

“But I love Helena. It’s different.”

“No, it’s not really. You knew Helena’s pain so you could help her. You know Artie’s pain as well. You’ve known it twice over, even if the second wasn’t quite so permanent. Artie wanted to help you when Helena was dead. You have to help him now that she’s not, but James is.”

“He’s not going to listen to me. He stopped listening to me when I showed him that file on Edward Witten’s pen.”

“He will, maybe not at first, but trust me Myka, the words are in you that he needs to hear after all these years.” Leena stood from the bed.

“A few words from me won’t magically fix him.”

“No, but they’ll start to mend him, and that’s what matters.” Leena slipped out the door and left Myka sitting alone on her bed.

Myka stared after the other woman for a long while. How was she supposed to have the right words? She wasn’t the one that was good with words, that was Helena. She cringed at the thought of Helena being in her situation though. Artie disliked her on a good day, she couldn’t imagine what would happen if Helena was in her shoes.

She would have to find the right words on her own then. She had no idea how or what words would do. Myka was pretty sure there weren’t any words that were right. It had taken her forever to forgive herself for Sam even with people saying all the right words. The words just seemed so…empty coming out of other people’s mouths. They didn’t know about anything she was going through. Why would their words mean anything?

But she did sort of know what Artie was going through, Leena had said so, but was that really enough to break through?

Myka flopped back on her bed. She didn’t know. She couldn’t know until she tried. Except she really didn’t want to try unless she was certain. What if she made everything worse? She ran her hand over her face. If she didn’t try things might get worse anyway.

Her eyes blinked closed. The relief from the burning of her eyes felt wonderful. She didn’t want to open her eyes again. She toed off her shoes and pushed herself further up onto her bed. This could wait until morning. She would be better, more alert after she slept. Maybe with her brain fully charged and not full of random artifacts she could think of those words she so desperately needed.

Myka curled up into a ball on her side. She really hoped that was true. Her way home might depend on those words. She sighed heavily and let her mind start to drift off.

 

 


	36. Chapter 36

Artie returned with file boxes just as her nerves were about to snap. She shot up as soon as she heard the front door opening. She met a surprised Artie at the door. Helena took the two files boxes he was carrying and smiled before walking back into the library.

She plopped down the boxes in the place she had designated and walked back out to intercept more boxes from Artie. With the two of them working all of the boxes were in the library in a few minutes. Helena had seen the two boxes the Myka had said they had worked through in the other universe and set them aside.

Artie walked in the room and surveyed everything that she’d set up so far and nodded. “Looks good.”

“Yes, well, the scanner still needs testing, but when it’s completely up and running it should help things run much more smoothly.” She uncapped one of the two boxes and started to dig through the files, looking for a rhyme or reason to the organization system, but she found none. She frowned and started pulling files at random and searching for the artifacts that Myka had mentioned.

“What are you doing?” Artie asked, shuffling forward to peak over her shoulder.

“This is one of the boxes that Myka’s group has sorted through. I’m looking to see if the box is the same here as in the other universe.”

“Ah, right.”

Helena sorted through a few more files before glancing up at Artie. “Did you test the pen?”

“Yeah, yeah, it came back as an active artifact, but it’s not actively whammy-ing anyone else. It’s quite the odd case.”

Helena’s brow scrunched. “That is quite odd. Any headway on how it would work to get back?”

“No, but if I had to guess you touching it again might be enough, but I’ll look into it some more to be sure.”

Helena nodded. “Jolly good.”

She finally opened up a file that Myka had named in her list. Helena set the file on Henry VIII’s pendant aside and set off in search of the others that Myka had mentioned. Even though she was only checking the title page there were enough files that it made the job quite time consuming. Eventually, though between the two boxes she managed to find all of the files that Myka had mentioned. It appeared the boxes were the same in her universe and Myka’s but five data points made her a little reluctant to call the evidence truly conclusive. Perhaps she’d ask Myka for a list of more files later just to double check, but for now she set the two boxes to the side and set to work on the pile of others.

“How go the repairs?” Helena asked, switching around the boxes so they were in numerical order.

“No real progress since you asked last. Testing everything is taking a while, but I’m going as fast as I can.”

“Righty-ho then. I suppose I’ll just work out the scanner’s kinks with blank paper since the files won’t really be going anywhere.”

“Sounds good. I’m sure your little Frankenstein will have more than a few problems to fix.”

Helena looked over at Claudia. “Do you doubt my abilities?” she asked, teasing.

“No, but you know, machines never cooperate the way they’re supposed to the first five hundred times.”

She laughed. “No, they really don’t. You should have seen how many things I had to fix on the time machine before it would work properly.”

Helena set to work running blank pieces of paper through her scanner and slowly finding all of the snags the paper hit. It took a few hours to get the paper flowing through at the right speed in order for it to scan fully. Now all that was left was to know if they scans were coming correctly into the database and then everything would be ready to go. But since Claudia was still repairing the database that was a task for another day.

She stood and stretched, back popping in the most gratifying way. Claudia was still typing away furiously. Helena walked over and draped herself over the arm again.

“You know darling you can take a break for a meal. It’s almost dinner time and I don’t recall you eating that much at breakfast.”

“I’ll be fine. Leena will drag me off the couch when dinner’s ready, don’t worry. With her around I never forget to eat.”

Helena laughed. “Alright then. I’m done with my end until everything on the mainframe is running so I’ll leave you to it.”

“’kay.”

Helena wandered out of the library and up to her room.

 

Later that night after dinner had been served and everyone had drifted off to their respective corners of the B&B, Helena found herself in the library once more. It looked quite different than it had back in her universe, especially since all of the files boxes and wires for the scanner were strewn about. It was still familiar enough, though, to warm and comfort her. Myka had first revealed that she might feel the same way if given the time to sort her feelings in this room. That memory alone was enough to make her smile. How far they had come since then.

Helena laughed once. All it had taken to truly drive them together was getting sent to two completely different universes. With how stubborn they both were she was quite sure nothing less would have worked, or at least worked so quickly to cement their budding relationship.

She traced the spines of a few books, inhaling the scent of old paper. A sigh escaped her lips. The smell had always comforted her, now was no exception. Helena made her way to the shelf that she knew should hold 19th century literature. Her finger hit the spine of _Great Expectations_ and she smiled once more. She pulled the book from the shelf and thumbed through the pages. She wondered just how far Myka had gotten in the book before they had been called on the mission that had left.

Helena closed the book and put it back on the shelf. She wanted to feel closer to Myka, but she drew the line at literature that she did not enjoy. The book would probably end up halfway across the room at some point. She’d rather not startle anyone in the middle of the night because she was miffed at a particularly convoluted sentence.

She wandered around the library for a few more minutes, picking up books that she loved and starting to read the first few lines, but none held her attention for more than a page or two. Helena eventually gave up and walked back to her room again. She wasn’t particularly tired, but she wasn’t in the mood to join Pete and Claudia in front of the TV either.

The Brit changed quickly into pjs and curled up under the covers. The bed felt wonderful, the sheets cool against her skin and the pillows cradling her head perfectly. Still, though, sleep was outside the range of possibility. Why she didn’t know. Usually her mind jumped at the chance to get to see Myka, but even that wasn’t enticing her to bed tonight.

The fears she had regarding Myka’s status with Artie and the complications the tests on the pen came to the front of her mind. It was a complication they didn’t need, and she didn’t know how she could help Myka from the other side. Her mind went in circles trying to figure out something, anything that she could do to help.

Frustrated, hours later she sat up and ran her hands through her hair. She wasn’t going to get any sleep like this. She wasn’t going to get any sleep until she figured out a way to help or she collapsed from exhaustion. She shrugged on a light jacket over her pjs and slipped on a pair of shoes and let herself out the front door quietly.

The fresh air helped clear her head some. She stood on the porch and took a few deep breaths. Her thoughts stopped circling around the possibility that Myka might not make it back home because of the Artie in the other universe. They were two of the most intelligent women on the planet. They would figure out something.

Still, even with this revelation the tension in her body only dissipated slightly. Helena set off, hopping off the porch lightly and started walking down the road, bathed in silver moonlight. She always had liked this part of the night the most, right after everyone had finally quieted down for the night and she had the world to herself for a couple hours before morning came.

After a few minutes her muscles warmed up enough to ward off the chill in the night air. Everything was utterly silent except for the occasional gust of wind and bird call. Sometimes living in the middle of nowhere had its advantages. It gave her the space to think as she needed to, or perhaps not think as she needed to. She could hear her every foot fall on the gravel road below her, every rustle of grass.

Finally, finally, after what seemed like a long while and a great distanced she felt the first threads of exhaustion. Helena turned around and started to walk back to the B&B, eyelids starting to droop, listening to the grass blow around her. It was such a relaxing sound.

By the time she made it back to her room she fell into bed, not even taking time to straighten out her covers before curling up and closing her eyes. It had sunk in that they would think of something to make sure Myka would get home safely. She would do whatever it took. Myka would too. Artie could not stop the both of them. She was certain of that.

She drifted off to sleep with a small smile on her face.

 

This time when she arrived in the dream world she woke up alone. It wasn’t a surprise to her, she had fallen asleep quite late after all. She stretched and sat up, looking around for Myka. Her side of the bed was rumpled, but she was gone. Helena got up and started to wander the halls of the dream B&B.

She found Myka sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of tea quietly, flipping the pages of _Great Expectations_. Helena smiled and sat down beside her.

“Hello, darling.”

Myka looked up at her and smiled. “Took you long enough.”

“Mmm, yes, but as it was I was have quite the time getting to sleep. I practically had to walk half way into the countryside in order to tire myself out enough to rest.” She poured herself a cup of tea from the pot Myka had left on the table.

  “Why were you so restless?” Myka put down her cup and leaned forward, forehead creasing in worry.

“We started the search of the Warehouse files, and while I was setting everything up with my universe’s Artie he mentioned that running tests on artifacts that hadn’t pinged was standard procedure. I thought of you and your Artie and was worried of the implications of that if he did the same tests.”

Myka ran her hands through her hair. “Yeah, well, it may or may not be standard procedure here, I haven’t really figured it out, but Artie ran the tests anyway. I have a feeling he’s trying to invent some sort of test to “prove” I’m lying about the pen. He’s been hiding away in one of the unused B&B rooms and working with God knows what.”

“You have to figure out what’s in there. Perhaps we can figure out what he’s up to and counteract it.”

“I already snuck in there today. It literally just looked like the storage room it was before except some of the random junk wasn’t as dusty. I have no idea what he could be doing.”

“Try again, then. Something must be hiding in plain sight that would make everything fit together.”

Myka slumped further forward. “That’s the thing, he sort of caught me in the act. Then we had an argument about everything, the tests on the pen included. I’m not getting back in that room with the South Dakota National Guard backing me up.”

Helena stirred the cup of tea in front of her, scowling. “Well then, that does present a little bit of a challenge. Perhaps one of the others could go for you?”

Myka shook her head. “He won’t let anyone near it now. He doesn’t trust anyone else at the moment.”

“What do you remember? Perhaps I’ll know something about what you saw that you didn’t.”

“Like I said it was just junk.”

“So are most of the things within the Warehouse, but it’s junk that has been imbued somehow with powers. Nothing around here is ordinary junk.”

Myka sighed. “You’re right, but still this didn’t look like it had been stored in the Warehouse anywhere. It wasn’t like someone had been keeping care of it like we do when we’re taking inventory.”

“Perhaps whatever is in there wasn’t in the Warehouse. It’s not like Artie is unaware of how to get artifacts on the black market.”

Myka closed her eyes. “Alright.” She called the image of the room up in her mind, looking around, taking every detail in. Sometimes a photographic memory was a blessing.

Everything still looked like normal everyday broken junk that piled up in storage rooms everywhere but she recited the list of what she saw to Helena. When she was done she sat back in her chair once more and looked at the other woman expectantly.

Helena sat back and thought for a long while. She’d seen many artifacts in her time, read about even more, but nothing Myka had described had rung a bell. Several things had come close, but their abilities would not have helped Artie in the slightest. She picked up her cup and took a sip of now lukewarm tea.

“I cannot think of anything at the moment that would help. Perhaps it will come to me later.” She shrugged.

“It was worth a shot.” Myka traced her left middle finger around the rim of her cup. “I’ll get back in there sometime, hopefully, and take another look around.”

“Just be careful, darling, I don’t want you hurt nor do I want to give your Artie anymore reasons to try and sabotage you.”

“I will be, don’t worry.”

Helena nodded once, holding Myka’s gaze. “Good.”

They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.

“Honestly, though, I’m not exactly sure that my confrontation with Artie was the weirdest thing that happened to me today.”

Helena tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“Just as I was starting to get ready for bed tonight Leena just walked in and started talking about how I was the only one that could get Artie to stop all the madness. Somehow it seems that his love of McPherson really did a number on him when he betrayed both Artie and the Warehouse. Leena thinks that because I’ve lost people too that I’ll be able to finally break through to him.”

“What an odd thought. Why ever would she think that?”

“You’ve got as much clue as I do.” Myka shrugged. “She just seemed to think that there was this magical combination of words that I could spew at Artie that would just fix the problem. Or if not fix it at least make it so that he didn’t trap me here. And I have no clue what to say. None at all. How in the world does losing Sam help me talk to Artie and manage to say the right thing? How does thinking I lost you for those few days help either? I literally just do not know, and I don’t want to screw everything up further by saying the complete wrong thing.”

“Darling, I think you have more of a gift with words that you’re giving yourself credit for.”

“No, you’re the one who has the gift with words. You’re the one who wrote novels that lasted over a hundred years. I’m just the girl who couldn’t keep her nose out of a book. Any skill I have with words is just a product of that. That won’t help me when trying to talk to Artie.”

“Authors start out somewhere, darling, and they start out by reading. You’ve read more than everyone I’ve ever met. Somewhere among all those words there must be something that you feel is adequate enough for this.”

Myka shook her head. “I don’t think there is. This is too important to just spout out whatever first pops into my head.”

“Then think about it, darling. As out of left field as Leena’s proposal is, perhaps there is some basis to it. Everyone else who works at the Warehouse isn’t you. They don’t know words as you do. They don’t know their power to move people, to change things.”

Myka sighed and lowered her head to the table. “I think in this one case I’d be much more comfortable with action instead of words. Shooting at the problem would be so much simpler.”

The edges of the dream started to fade. Helena stood up and crouched beside Myka’s chair. She stroked Myka’s back and laid a gently kiss on the exposed skin of her shoulder.

“We’ll figure it out, darling. We always do.”

Myka turned to her, kissing her just as the dream ended and sent them back to their respective worlds.

 

 


	37. Chapter 37

Myka woke up with a start. She whipped her head around, scanning the room quickly for whatever had woken her so suddenly. There was nothing there, though. She took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart. She bit the inside of her lip. Why had she jerked awake like that? It wasn’t like she had a nightmare or anything even close. The only nightmare was the fact that she was still stuck here and not at home with Helena.

Myka looked around once more, this time looking for things disturbed instead of actual people. Everything looked the same as her eyes swept the room. She sighed. She was probably just being paranoid because of the whole Artie thing. It was nothing. Something had just startled her awake. It was late enough in the morning that someone could be moving about and made enough noise to jolt her out of her sleep.

She sighed and got up and got ready for the day, opting for the most comfortable clothes that she owned. There was no need for anything more when she was just going to be sitting at the kitchen table all day again. She looked back at her bed just as she was walking out the door and pursed her lips. Myka walked in the room again and grabbed a pillow before exiting the room and heading downstairs.

The pillow helped the mild discomfort her back was feeling after days of sitting in the same position for hours at a time. Leena shot her an amused smile as she set a plate of breakfast in front of her. Myka blushed slightly and shrugged. The chairs weren’t exactly very comfortable.

Pete drifted in a few minutes later looking like he was more sleep walking than actually awake. He perked up a little when Leena put a plate in front of him, but not as much as normal. Myka titled her head and looked over at him.

“What’s wrong, Pete?” she asked.

“Nothing.” Pete yawned. “Just couldn’t sleep.” He shrugged. “Happens sometimes. Marine memories.”

Myka nodded, understanding. “Oh, okay.”

Leena sat a cup of coffee beside him and patted him on the shoulder once before drifting back into the kitchen proper once again. Pete sipped the liquid without adding anything. Myka winced. He hated black coffee. It must have been a really bad night.

They ate breakfast in silence. Artie came in grabbed a plate and left. The whole entire time that he was in the room Myka’s muscles involuntarily tensed up. Her back was ramrod straight and the fork kept traveling to and from her mouth in almost jerky robotic motions. She prayed that he would get out of there quickly, her back muscles felt like a thousand tiny needles were being poked through them.

When he finally left she breathed a sigh of relief and slumped forward. She could practically feel Leena’s eyes on her, but she chose to ignore her. Myka was _not_ ready to face him. No matter what Leena or even Helena said she did not feel like she could do this. Shoot a target thirty feet away ten times through the bull’s-eye? That she could do. Talk about feelings…that was debatable at best. She had spent years bottling everything up. Why did everyone now think it was so easy for her to just let everything go and talk? Perhaps Helena had a little more of a reason, she had after all finally cracked and admitted her feelings for the Brit and was now having no trouble expressing her feelings, but that was different. Leena had no reason at all to think that she was just the master of feelings.

Myka scratched at the back of her neck and stood, taking her empty plate to the sink, avoiding eye with Leena diligently. She sat back down at the table again and set to work once more reading through a pile of files that she had pulled from yet another box. She was going to have to tell Helena what new boxes they had broken into to keep her up to date with everything. Her brow scrunched in displeasure as she lightly chided herself for not saying something about the files last night during their dream. She didn’t even know if the boxes matched up in Helena’s universe yet. Still, she memorized the numbers of the boxes they’d gone through anyway.

The rest of the day any time that Artie came in Myka tensed up. And every time she felt Leena looking at her. Artie himself seemed to remain oblivious to the whole thing, for which Myka was thankful. She didn’t want any confrontations with him. Hell, she didn’t even want to be alone in the same room as him right this second. But at least with Pete and Leena in the room that wasn’t a problem for the moment.

Around midday though Pete left, muttering excuses about trying to nap to offset some of the sleep deprivation. As much as Myka tried not to begrudge him that after a rough night, she still felt a little abandoned. But it wasn’t as if he knew the whole thing that had happened yesterday. Myka was sure if he did he wouldn’t have left her side. Leena, however, she didn’t trust not to disappear at the drop of a hat next time Artie appeared in the room.

Tension started to creep back into her muscles slowly bit by bit. She waited and waited for Artie to show up once more and for Leena to suddenly not be beside her or puttering around the kitchen. By the time he actually did walk in Myka felt like she was going to snap right then and there.

She glanced up at him and then quickly back down at the file. Myka reigned in the urge to flip around and look for Leena. She already knew she was gone or at least would be ignoring whatever was going on between the two others in the room hard enough that it would be like she wasn’t there anyway.

Myka desperately hoped that Artie would just walk back out the door the same way he had been all day. Just a quick pop in to grab a sandwich, a glass of water, whatever and then immediately leave. But of course it seemed he wanted to be left alone with Myka just as much as Myka wanted the opposite. He sat down in his usual chair almost across from her, looking somehow pleased even though he was wearing his normal scowl.

“Glad to see you haven’t tried to go on anymore excursions today.”

“Yeah, well it wasn’t like you were going to let me go anywhere near that room, we both know it.” Myka felt like she was about to vibrate out of her skin. She didn’t even know muscles could get this tense without snapping.

Artie nodded. “True enough.” He looked up at her. “You’ll thank me, you know.”

Myka’s hands clenched into fists. “Are you kidding me? I’ll _thank_ you for calling me insane and trying to trap me here in a universe that I don’t belong in? In what world does that _even_ make sense?”

“In a world that you realize you really have made it all up. You’ll thank me for snapping you out of it.” Artie sat back and crossed his arms.

“No, Artie, I won’t. Because the world you’re talking about? That’s a totally different world. Here the pen has registered as an honest to god artifact. I am not lying. I am not the one who’s had a psychotic break.” Myka shot him a significant look.

“And you think I have?”

“What do you think, Artie? We’re a team here and you’ve gone and betrayed my trust. I know we haven’t always had the most trusting relationship, but we’ve worked something out. But it doesn’t feel like it right now. If you trusted me you would believe me, but you don’t. Funny thing is, that when I did think Helena was dead, you got it. You were supportive. You tried to help. But the second it wasn’t true? It was like a switch just flipped in you and you became this…resentful monster.”

“I did not.”

“You did Artie. You really did. And I know that McPherson was special to you. And I know he hurt you and left you. And I know that his apology hurt you as much as it helped you. God, the hallucinations I had of Sam under the influence of certain artifacts were horrible, even the ones after I finally accepted that I wasn’t the cause of his death. The ones where he told me that it wasn’t my fault? Those were almost worse in a way, because then everything was fixed again…except for the fact that he wasn’t there. But eventually, they hurt less and less because I moved on. I accepted that he wasn’t coming back just as I accepted that it wasn’t my fault that he died. And because I moved on I could actually see Helena as she was, someone who could love me, when she appeared.”

“But she’s gone.”

“But she isn’t.”

“She is, you’re just refusing to admit it.”

Myka took a deep breath. “No. She’s not. Do you ever think that the recording of McPherson on the pocket watch was just a delusion of yours? Do you ever question it for one second?”

“I have, yes.”

“Yeah, I do too. And what’s the conclusion you always come back to?”

“That it has to be real because even I couldn’t come up with something so James as to put a miniature projector in a pocket watch ten years before the technology was even available to do so.”

“You took that projector apart piece by piece, didn’t you?”

Artie nodded.

“You see, I keep going over everything that happened in the other universe and this one and the one that Helena and I seem to inhabit in our dreams, and you know the conclusion that I come to?”

Artie’s hands fell to grip at the table. “What?”

 “That I literally couldn’t have come up with so much detail for a delusion. That every single sign points back to everything being true. At first it was difficult to accept. I did really think I was insane for a good long while, but I know I’m not. I have evidence, Artie, concrete evidence that you’re trying to tamper with, to destroy.”

“If the pen’s destroyed then maybe you’ll be able to break the delusion.”

“Artie, that’s not how it works. I was delusional I’d have to break the delusion myself, not just have some object destroyed. The only thing breaking the pen does is strands me here. How would you feel if you had the one thing that could reunite you with McPherson and someone was trying to destroy it because they didn’t think that it was possible? How would you really feel?”

Artie just scowled at her.

“Yeah, you would hate it. Artie, I’ve been ripped away from one person I’ve loved. Nearly ripped away from another twice. I’m not about to let someone come in-between Helena and I now that we’re almost on the other side of all the shit we’ve had to go through just to be together. I’m not delusional. I’m in love. And sometimes those are the same thing.” Again Myka looked at Artie. “Because love…it breaks as easily as it builds and it does so much damage when it does shatter. But what I have is strong. Because I let go of that old love. I still love Sam in a way. But he’s not my be all end all anymore. McPherson shouldn’t be yours. Artie, it’s the 21st century. You could find someone else if you just let yourself. And that wouldn’t mean that you love him any less, but it would mean that you let go of the painful parts once and for all. McPherson would want that. That was what he was trying to do sending you that apology, trying to help you let go of the hurt he caused. And you know what the first step of trying to let go? You don’t destroy the pen. You don’t prevent me from going home. You let me stay until we find a way to save the Warehouse. And you let me go home to the woman I love.”

Myka pushed her chair back and stood, towering over Artie. “Because maybe for once instead of trying to make someone else feel the pain your love cause, maybe you should try to let them see how good it made you feel instead.”

She turned and left the room, retreating to her bedroom for the rest of the day.

 

 


	38. Chapter 38

Helena woke up frowning for the first time in a while. She believed what she had said to Myka, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to worry until everything blew over. She was almost used to being stuck in another universe. It was a problem to worry about, but it was constant. It wasn’t unpredictable as humans were. The pen would send them back if they could deactivate it or something of the like. Simple solution, few variables, child’s play. The Artie problem had so many unknowns it was practically unsolvable except perhaps by a random stroke of genius or luck. Those were the problems Helena loved, but not in this context. No, being three steps ahead of people was how she preferred it, but that wasn’t an option here.

She hauled herself out of bed and got dressed again. Helena wasn’t quite sure what she’d be doing all day. With the scanner set up and working as far as she could tell there wasn’t much else to do. Claudia was taking care of the program and there wasn’t anything simple enough for her to help with on that project. Helena supposed she could start reading through some of the files manually just to pass the time. From the names of the artifacts that Myka had given her there seemed to be a few rather curious files stashed away in the boxes.

She flicked out the ends of her hair, decision made. There was no use in being idle. Even if the work she did in a few hours could be accomplished by a computer in seconds. Who knew, she might find it before the program was even need.

Helena paused at that. But even if she did find it she would have to keep quiet about it until Claudia got the program up and running anyway. Agent Jinks and the metronome had to be located before any artifact that could help them was revealed. She brushed down her shirt, frowning at the few creases that had managed to set while hung up in the closet. It was unfortunate that they would have to delay, but a promise was a promise. She wasn’t going to let Agent Jinks die unnecessarily any more than she was going to claim men were vastly superior beings. She wasn’t going to let Claudia suffer as she had once upon a time.

Helena continued to stare into the mirror. That day seemed so long ago and yet a blink of an eye away. Having been to that house made it seem even closer than that. Most times it seemed like such a short time ago, except when she was with Myka. Only when she was with her did the amount of time that had elapsed match the amount of time since that fateful in her own mind. She was the only one who could soothe the ragged edges of the wound left by Christina’s death. She didn’t want Claudia to have to wait over a hundred years to find the person that would do the same for her.

She sighed and walked from her room, starting to smell the tempting aroma of coffee filling the air of her bedroom. Helena had to admit, as vile as the stuff truly was, it did happen to smell magnificent at least.

Claudia was already sitting at the kitchen table typing away at her laptop, a piece of toast gripped between her lips. Leena shot fond, if a little exasperated, looks at the younger girl and her table manners. Helena sat down beside the red head and looked at her screen. The code was far too advanced and moving far too fast for Helena to actually get a read on it, but she tried anyway. She caught a few commands, but nothing that would tell her how it was going.

“How far are you?” She asked, sitting back.

Claudia grabbed the piece of toast out of her mouth, taking a quick bite before plopping it on the table. “Not bad. I had an idea about everything last night and it seems to be testing well so far. If everything keeps going so smoothly I should be done sometime today.”

Helena shot her an impressed look. “My, my, that’s faster than I thought you would be done.”

“I work quickly when motivated properly.” She shrugged.

Helena looked around the room carefully. Artie was nowhere to be seen and the floorboards were not creaking upstairs. It seemed they were alone for now.

“Claudia, I think I’ve had an idea that would help us keep everything hidden until the last possible second.”

Claudia glanced over at her for a second before turning her eyes to the screen again. “What?”

“What if we waited for the program to turn up with the information on an artifact to save the Warehouse, supposing it does anyway. Someone will have to retrieve it from wherever it was, why shouldn’t it be us? We’re quite the effective team. That way when we go looking for the metronome we also will have a legitimate cover story. At least until we get to wherever Agent Jinks is. From there we could go get the artifact and be back here perhaps before the full storm of our actions hits.”

Claudia bit her lip. “That might take a while to find. First and foremost the program is supposed to probe for backdoors. Once it finds one it’s programmed to flip over and put most of the effort into finding an artifact matching the parameters I set to indicate a potential Warehouse saving artifact, but until I crack that wall open there’s still a large part of it attacking the wall instead of searching. Even after I do get Jinks’s information and everything is shifted full force into searching there are a lot more files on there than you think.”

“But just think, we would have the cover we needed to move freely. It might be worth the wait. If they catch wind of us coming it will be worse than having waited a few more days for a search result.”

“But what if it doesn’t come back with anything?”

“We address that concern then.” Helena nodded once to emphasize the point.

Claudia thought about her suggestion for a few minutes. “Alright, fine, but if nothing comes up within three days of me cracking that wall, we’re talking about this again.”

“Deal.”

Helena got up and grabbed a mug from the cabinet, filling it with water and sticking it into the microwave. She would never get over the pleasure that was having food heated almost instantly. After growing up in the era where fire did all of the cooking and only just seeing the beginning of electric powered stoves just before she was bronzed, such a convenience truly was wonderful.

She threw in a spoonful of loose tea leaves into her mug and let it brew for a few minutes. Leena worked around her, still prepping the bulk of breakfast.  When the liquid was the appropriate dark brown she scooped out the bulk of the leaves and sat down once again.

A plate of food was set in front of her a few minutes later. Leena set a plate beside Claudia as well, along with a squeeze to the younger girl’s shoulder, silently commanding her to eat.  Claudia kept typing along, though.

“Just a few more lines and I should be done. I’ll eat, Leena, I swear.”

Leena sighed and walked away. “Sure, but we all know how you get with your projects. Soon I’ll have to strap you down just to get you to eat a piece of toast.”

“Hey, I’m not that bad! Food is important too.”

“Only at three in the morning when you realize you haven’t eaten all day.”

“Alright, so I’m not perfect.” Claudia typed a last few key strokes and hit the left mouse key triumphantly. “But in this case, I really am right.” She picked up her fork and scooted the plate closer. “And while it’s running through test I’ll eat.” She smiled cheekily at Leena.

Leena rolled her eyes but was still smiling fondly.

“If it comes through test clean then the patch can be applied?” Helena asked.

“Yup, and the search begins.”

“How long will it take to find out if the scanner is copying everything right?”

“A couple minutes max once the fixes are applied.”

“Good.”

“But after that it’s just waiting around, so.”

“I think I can handle that.”

“Yeah, yeah oh patience guru. Not everybody is good with sitting still.”

“I’m sure Leena could find a few cleaning jobs for you if you don’t want to be idle that badly.”

“Shutting up now.” She shoved a forkful of eggs into her face. Leena laughed behind her.

“I didn’t think so.”

All of them looked up as Artie came in, grumbling. Claudia reached over slowly and shut her computer, trying to act as casual as possible. Helena sipped her tea and nodded to the older man. She was surprised he had waited as long as he had to stumble downstairs. Perhaps it was he who had the bad night this time. Or perhaps the delayed wake up was nothing more than a coincidence.

The breakfast continued with stilted conversation until Pete came down and pulled Claudia into a discussion about the merits of Magneto versus Professor Xavier. They filled up the room with lively chatter whilst Artie and Helena sat silently eating and Leena looking on with a slight smile while Claudia went off on another hand flailing tangent about how Magneto was so much more awesome. Metal bending, hello?

Helena glanced down at the computer under Claudia’s elbow. Soon. They would have a solution soon now. Maybe even before Myka’s Artie problem hit the point of no return. The thought made the corners of her mouth twitch up. What a good prospect indeed.

 

A few hours later they were set up in the library once more, Artie having driven off to places unknown to do gods knew what. Probably something to do with saving the Warehouse, but whatever it was, it suited Helena just fine. She hated the feeling of having to look over her shoulder every few seconds.

“It’s good to go,” Claudia said from the couch she had claimed as her own.

Helena nodded and slipped a file into the load bin on top of her scanner. The file flew through the scanner quickly. She glanced up at Claudia and awaited the verdict. Now that the patch had tested clean and had been attached to the Warehouse database they were using things were progressing quickly.

Claudia pursed her lips and squinted a little. “They’re a little out of focus. I can still read everything, but I’m not sure in the computer will be able to when it’s searching.”

Helena squatted down and flipped a few dials before pausing. She hit one last one before standing again and collecting the same file she’d just scanned. She figured it fitting that the first thing scanned into this new database was the file on Yogi Berra’s jockstrap. The face that Myka had unwittingly made while talking about it had been worth its weight in gold.

She ran it through the scanner again. Claudia held up a thumbs up. Helena smiled widely. Things were progressing quickly and easily indeed.

“It’s good to go, H.G. Crank her up.”

Helena plopped a pile she’d prepared earlier into the feed tray and walked over to Claudia’s side while it scanned in.

“So how goes its side mission?” she asked, perching on the arm of the couch.

“Pretty good. It’s covered a lot of ground in a short time for the amount of power its got. If it keeps going at the speed it is, it might actually only take a day or two.”

Helena nodded, pleased. “Has it encountered any resistance from the wall itself?”

“No, seems like it recognizes it as part of the Warehouse so it’s not doing anything to it besides rebuffing it when it tries to get in. Pretty much what I hoped it would do.” Claudia shrugged.

“Good. Perhaps the fates are actually with us today.”

Claudia looked up at her. “You don’t believe in the fates.”

“No, but perhaps a little preemptive thanks will keep things running smoothly. I’m not above any tactics right now, darling. I do quite want to get home to Myka sometime in the next century.”

Claudia snorted. “Alrighty then.

Helena stood up once more and went to fill the now empty scanner. “Perhaps in this universe they might actually listen.”

“I don’t think they do, dude. Believe me, I’ve been here the whole time and it’s not like I’ve seen any evidence.”

“No doubt, darling, but who knows, perhaps in some other universe they do.”

“That’s literally the most hopeful thing I’ve heard you say about religion. Like ever.”

Helena smiled slightly. “And it will probably be the last. But I am in another universe, darling. To some that’s a big a dream as religion being true.”

Claudia looked over at her, thoughtful. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Helena went back to unboxing the files at her feet, still smiling slightly.

 

“H.G.!” Claudia shouted an hour or so later.

Helena popped her head over a file box she was sitting beside. “Yes, darling?”

Claudia motioned her over frantically. Helena rose gracefully, pausing a moment to stretch out stiff muscles. She set on the arm of Claudia’s couch.

“What is it, darling? What has you so hot and bothered?”

Claudia turned the screen to face her. “This.”

Helena leaned forward and scanned the screen. A quiet gasp escaped her mouth. “Already? Even at a reduced capacity?”

Claudia nodded. “Yeah. I guess maybe the fates were with us.” She shot Helena a look. “It’s still searching to see if anything else matches better, but it seems like we’ve found a fix for our Warehouse problem.”

“So it seems.” Helena kept reading the file, skimming everything quickly. Her eyes stopped on one rather important detail.

“Darling, I hate to ruin your celebration, but did you read the side effects?”

“No, I just read the general what it does section to make sure the program was actually working like it should.”

Helena turned the screen towards her again. “I’d read it.”

Claudia’s eyes flicked across the screen quickly. “Oh.”

“Yes, oh.”

“So it’s literally a one for one deal. You get back the object you want but someone has to disappear from the world.”

“Not only just a random person off the street darling, it says a dear one. It means a friend or family member.”

“And it says you pick? What the hell this sounds like a magic spell, not an artifact.”

Helena snorted. “Well, darling, it is Morgan Le Fay’s spell book. I can only imagine this artifact comes about as close to magic as we’ll ever witness.”

“We can’t get rid of anyone else. We already lost Myka. We still have to frakking _resurrect_ Jinksy. Then as soon as everything is done you’re leaving and who knows if we get the you who existed here before back. We lose anyone else and everything is just going to fall to pieces.”

“I’m hoping that in the process of the Warehouse being returned your Myka might be as well. It says that the object will be restored to you in the condition that it was originally lost. As for me, I’m not quite so sure. If the version of me that was here before didn’t come back I would think it would violate the Law of Conservation of Mass, but so many of the scientific laws I learned when I was young have been broken just to get me here, so this might be an exception. Or perhaps she might have been shifted to a new universe as well.” Helena shrugged.  “It’s not as if I’ll be around to find out.”

Claudia scratched the back of her head. “Would she still come back, if there was a you to come back if we picked you for the whole artifact sacrifice thing?”

“Artifacts are finicky things. Do some more researching into the spell book. See if you can find anything, maybe an instance where someone has used it. Until then keep the search rolling just in case something else pops up that has more palatable consequences.”

“Alright.” She looked up at Helena with wide eyes. “But H.G. what if this is the only thing we find?”

Helena bit the inside of her lip. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, darling.” She turned and went back to her file boxes. “Until then we’ll hope that somewhere in that database of yours or perhaps in one of these files a better option is lying in wait.”

Claudia nodded and sunk back into her couch again.

 

Helena’s mind refused to quiet later that night. The search had yet to turn up anything more. She tried to tell herself that it was only because the search was running slowly because of the search for the backdoor in the firewall, but something in the back of her mind wouldn’t allow it. Helena had a feeling that this was the one solution. Morgan Le Fay’s spell book was what they were going to have to work with. These people had already lost so much, was saving the Warehouse really worth the sacrifice of yet another person? Helena didn’t think so. The Warehouse was steel and lumber and rock, things that could be replaced. But a person couldn’t be replaced. The Warehouse was special, but not that special.

Something about the wording in the file tickled at her brain, but couldn’t tease a full thought out of it. She left it alone and hoped the forming idea would come to her when the time was right. Perhaps talking to Myka would help. It always seemed to when she was trying to puzzle out her latest conundrum. But with her brain buzzing the way it was that was a long way off.

She wondered how unlucky she was to have two restless nights in a row. Not like she was stranger to them, the years after Christina seemed to be one long restless night. Since being unbronzed she hadn’t had that particular problem. She sighed. Perhaps yet another side effect of being so long away from Myka. Perhaps just a side effect of the happenings around her. Whatever it was it was highly annoying.

Helena paced her room for a few hours until yet again the physical activity wore her out. She laid down in her bed and let her eyelids slip shut once again.

 

 


	39. Chapter 39

Myka drifted off sometime later in the night after pacing her room up and down for hours. The confrontation with Artie had not gone well she had thought. She was going to get stranded here. It was going to be all her fault. How could she be so stupid? Her thoughts swirled round and round as she finally drifted off.

 

Helena was waiting for her this time. Myka breathed a sigh of relief and fell into the other woman’s arms. Hands came up to stroke her hair.

“What’s wrong, darling?” Helena whispered into Myka’s curls.

Myka shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about it right off the bat. She wanted to enjoy Helena’s warmth and comfort for just a little while longer. When she opened her mouth the comfort would be lost. Helena would chide her for being foolish. She would do anything to avoid that for just a little longer.

“I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong, darling. Is it Artie? Did he do something?” Helena’s grip tightened on her.

Myka shook her head but then hesitated for a second and nodded once.

“Which one, darling. Both yes and no tells me very little.”

“He sort of did something.”

“How does one ‘sort of’ do something?” A touch of amusement laced Helena’s tone.

Myka sighed heavily and buried her face farther into Helena’s neck. “Leena wanted me to talk to him right, set him straight?”

“Yes, I remember.” Helena couldn’t have forgotten if she had wanted.

“Well basically she left us alone together at the first possible second. I’d been trying to avoid it all day, but Leena just has a way of getting her way, you know?”

“I’m very familiar, darling. You wouldn’t think one of the quietest members of our household would be the most tenacious.”

“But she left us alone, and as much as I didn’t want to talk to him, it seemed that Artie was waiting for a moment to talk to me alone just as much as Leena was trying to set one up.”

Helena’s grip tightened on Myka again. “What did he say to you, darling?” Myka had a feeling that the older woman was trying to plan various ways just to get to Myka’s universe to potentially painfully torture the man.

“Basically that I would thank him one day for what he was doing.”

“That wretched little man!” Helena hissed.

Myka sat up as much as Helena’s grip on her would allow. “No, that isn’t the problem, Helena. Well, not the main problem anyway. I wasn’t exactly fond of that statement either. What’s the problem is what I said in response.”

Helena’s brown eyes met her own. “What did you say, darling?”

“…I sort of basically took him to town and told him that what he was doing was stupid because he should just get over McPherson because it was slowly driving him crazy and was blinding him to the truth of what was actually going on around him.” Myka hung her head. “I’ve screwed it all up, Helena. He’s going to destroy the pen for sure now. Who wouldn’t after the stupid “I’m holier than thou” speech I gave him. I’m so stupid.”

Helena’s fingers pressed up under Myka’s chin, forcing her to look up once again. “Did you see him after this talk to actually know that what you said had a negative effect?”

“No, I went up to my room and stayed there until I fell asleep.”

“Then perhaps all is not lost.”

Myka cocked her head to the side. “How can you say that? Artie isn’t exactly the nicest guy normally, let alone half sane. He’s going to take everything I said and twist it into yet another reason that he has to destroy the pen and strand me here.”

“Stranger things have happened, darling. Sometimes people need to hear the harsh truth before they will snap out of it. Perhaps what you think is antagonizing really was what he needed to hear after all these years.”

“Do you really believe that?” Myka asked, green eyes questioning.

“I believe that you need to stop counting your chicken before they hatch. Right now it could go either way, but you’re assuming that it’s horrible just by default. Whatever way this goes we’ll get through it somehow. I don’t care if I have to take the pen from my universe and keep travelling to different universes until I find the one that you’re in to bring you back. We’ll find a way. Until then you need to stop assuming the worst and play everything by ear.”

Helena stroked a few curls from her eyes. “You’re an exceedingly clever woman. If this falls somewhere in the middle of good and bad you need your wits about you to twist this into your favor.”

“What if I can’t do that?”

“You can. You think fast on your feet and you know who you’re dealing with, at least generally. I’ve found there are more commonalities between universes than differences. You can use that to force Artie into at least a position where you won’t have to worry about the imminent destruction of the pen. That’s all we need, anyway.”

Myka’s head fell to Helena’s shoulder again. “You’re the one who’s good with people.”

“I think you sell yourself short in that aspect.” Helena’s hands started to card through her hair again. “We’ve found a potential fix for the Warehouse.”

Myka shot up. “Really?” Excitement laced her voice.

“Yes, really, but the excitement might be a little premature, darling.”

“Why?”

“Because every artifact has a side effect, this one included.”

“What’s the side effect?”

Helena exhaled a breath. “Whoever uses the artifact must choose a person to disappear from their world and that person has to be dear to them for the artifact to fully work.”

“Oh.” Myka bit her lip hard enough to turn it white. “That’s one of the worse side effects. Why can’t it be the artifact where you just get a legion of ferrets as a side effect?”

Helena laughed once humorlessly. “No, darling, that would make us too lucky.”

“And the Warehouse never has too much of that.”

“No, no it doesn’t.”

“What artifact is it anyway?”

“Morgan Le Fay’s spell book.”

Myka’s eyes went wide. “She was actually real? I thought she was just a story book character.”

“Seems as if she was based in fact at least in part. It brings back the item you’re seeking in the condition you lost it, but again at the price of a friend or family member disappearing from the world.”

“Disappearing from the world?” Myka’s cheek indented as she bit the inside.

“Yes.”

“There’s something weird about the wording there, don’t you think?”

Helena’s brow scrunched. “I thought there was something off about the wording of the whole entry, it was strangely archaic, but now that you mention that is the strangest phrase out of all of them.”

“What do you think it could mean?”

“I’m not quite sure other than what it means at face value. It’s not as if the medieval people knew about different universes, different worlds.”

“But I mean that’s always been something rumored in mythos, that there were different worlds. Maybe they didn’t have the math or science to prove it, but I mean they created an artifact that imitates magic. Perhaps they knew a lot more than we think, or at least maybe Morgan Le Fay did.”

“We aren’t from this world, Helena. Maybe we could be the ones they ‘make disappear from the world.’”

“Perhaps, but what about the Myka and Helena that we displaced in our respective universes? Is the artifact banishing just the person or their whole existence? Because one would be ideal, we would just leave and the other versions of us could come back, but if our whole existence is wiped then there is a pair of us that are stuck in a place that they don’t belong, that is if they don’t disappear in the first place. And where would we even be banished to if we were the ones that volunteered?”

“We could pair the book with the pen. At the last second grab the pen as the artifact is being used to bring the Warehouse back.”

Helena shook her head. “Mixing artifacts is never a good idea, darling. One slip and either we might disappear from the cosmos entirely or the Warehouse doesn’t actually come back and all is lost.”

“But we’re the only ones that have even the option of being ok and not just disappearing into the ether. No one else in either of our universes has the pen working on them. We can’t let someone else be the sacrificial lamb when we have something that might save us. We’ve stayed so long just to make sure these people are ok after we leave, why would we abandoned that now? If we make them go instead then why did we stay? We wouldn’t be helping them. They’d only be yet another person down and we really have no idea if the other us’s are coming back.”

“I know, darling. But we’ve also come this far just to get home. We could be endangering that. We could be lost in another universe. We could end up dead. We just don’t know.”

Myka just looked at Helena. “Where’s the Helena that wanted to stay to save them?”

“We weren’t endangering ourselves then. It was just an extension to this little fiasco. But this? This could actually hurt us, darling. And I can’t lose you. I just can’t. What if the pen works for me, but not for you? What if the reverse? There are just too many variables.”

“Then let’s try to eliminate some of those variables. We could research everything we know about the artifact in both universes. We might be able to find something helpful between the two.”

“I already have Claudia working on it. I also have her still searching for another alternative. Hopefully we won’t have to have anyone disappearing be it us or someone else.”

Myka’s eyes roved her face. “You don’t look confident that another artifact will come up.”

“It was a one in a million shot in the first place darling. That we actually found something that can bring the Warehouse back at all no matter the consequences is amazing. I don’t think our luck will hold to find something better. I just have a feeling that this is what we’re stuck with, this catch-22 of an artifact.”

“Then we’ll make it work. We’ll find a way. We always do.”

Helena leaned forward and kissed Myka on the forehead. “I thought that was my line, darling. But since I’ve been giving that advice for quite some time now, I suppose I’ll listen. Did it always feel so…slightly irritating when I said it?”

Myka smiled slightly. “Sometimes. It depending on how far gone I was.”

“I’ll remember that for next time.”

“But you are right. No matter what we’ll figure out a way. As you put it ‘we’re two of the smartest women the Warehouse has ever seen’ I think we can handle this. We have time.”

Helena sighed heavily. “You know, darling, it really is much more fun being the wise one that the one being advised.”

“Isn’t it always?”

Myka leaned forward and kissed Helena soundly as the dream started to fade around them once again.

 

Myka woke up in bed, curled in the fetal position on top of her covers. She groaned as she uncurled her stiff body and stretched. She had had all the time in the world but she hadn’t thought to actually get into her bed properly? She cursed herself and her scatter brained ways when she was panicking. She really didn’t want to deal with a sore back all day on top of everything else.

She quickly got dressed and headed downstairs. The only way to figure out if Artie was for or against her now was to actually leave her room and see, Helena had been right about that. However, that didn’t calm the knots in her stomach. She was sure even if Leena put her favorite breakfast in front of her she wouldn’t be able to choke down more than a few bites, if even that.

Pete and Claudia were already at the table playing paper football. Leena herself was nowhere to be seen, surprising Myka. Even if she wasn’t cooking Leena seemed to gravitate towards the kitchen. Myka sat down in her usual seat, dodging a paper football as it went flying by her.

“Touchdown!” Claudia exclaimed dancing exaggeratedly in her chair.

“Are you kidding me? That missed by a mile.” Pete got up and went to fetch the flying object.

Myka did a double take. Claudia was there. But then if she was back where was Steve?

“You’re back?” Myka asked the red head.

Claudia stopped dancing and looked over at Myka. “Yeah, we got back at like dinner time yesterday. Where were you?”

“In my room. So Steve’s all good now?”

“Yeah. Yeah, he’s great. It was sort of crazy getting him off that thing. A complete act of love kind of was a little hard to come by, but worked out eventually. All it took was for him to tackle his Mom out of the way of some crazy drunk driver and save her life. You know. Normal artifact things.”

“Not how Steve at home did it, but whatever works. Where is he now?”

“Still back at home. They had some things to work through still. His sister’s death kind of complicated their relationship like _a lot_. They started to reconcile while we were down there, but he needed some more time. So I came back to help with the search now that that’s there’s no immediate emergency.”

Myka nodded. “Have you guys seen Artie today?”

Both Pete and Claudia shook their heads.

“Nah, I haven’t seen Leena either, come to think of it. I had to raid the fridge for breakfast. Must say, I do make a mean breakfast sandwich.” Pete smiled and patted his stomach.

Claudia snorted. “That thing was not a breakfast sandwich.  That thing was a monstrosity and I have no frakkin’ clue how you manage to stomach it.”

“Hey, don’t insult the sandwich.” Pete folded his arms over his chest.

“Pete, there was peanut butter, ham, and mayo on that thing, and those were only things that I could identify. In what world does that combination even make sense?”

“In Pete world.”

Myka laughed quietly. Who knew, maybe there was a universe where peanut butter, ham, and mayo made sense. Her face scrunched up. Then again maybe not. That was just a little too weird.

The two of them shook themselves out of their sandwich debate a minute later.

“Why were you looking for Artie?” Pete asked. “Did things get worse? Is that why you disappeared yesterday?” His eyes were filled with concern.

“Yeah, we sort of had it out after you went off to take a nap. Leena left us alone and, well, Artie sat down to tell me I would thank him. It sort of went downhill from there. As for if it’s worse…I’m not really sure. Maybe. Maybe not. Leena was convinced I’d be able to say the right thing to knock some sense into him.”

“Old man grump needs hit with a two by four to knock some sense into him.” Claudia sat forward, resting her elbows on the table.

“Yeah, well, I might as well have hit him with the whole house yesterday.”

They both hissed in a breath. “Yeah, that could go either way,” Claudia said, with Pete nodding his agreement.

“Yeah. I know.”

They fell silent for a few minutes, Claudia and Pete flicking the paper football across the table halfheartedly. Myka stood up to grab a banana and a cup of yogurt and sat back down, toying with her food before actually managing to eat some of it.

“You think that’s where Leena is, talking with Artie?” Pete asked.

Claudia shrugged. “Could be. Or she could just be sleeping in for once. She’ll pop out of the snow like a daisy soon enough. She’s almost as good as just  appearing out of nowhere as Mrs. Frederic.”

 Myka nodded along. That was true enough.

“Hey, have you guys seen a file on Morgan Le Fay’s spell book when searching through the file here?” Myka asked suddenly, stuffing her banana peel into the yogurt cup as neatly as possible. If Artie wasn’t here to worry about she should try to get some sort of work done instead of just sitting and worrying.

They both shook their heads.

“No, why?” Pete asked.

“Helena found something in the file in the other universe and it seems like it might be able to get the Warehouse back.”

Claudia perked up. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“So we can stop going through those stupid, boring files?” Pete looked helpful.

“No, not yet. Morgan Le Fay’s spell book might be able to help us, but we still need to keep looking. It’s side effect isn’t exactly the greatest.”

“What do you mean?” Claudia twirled the teal strip of her hair around her finger absently.

“Whoever uses the artifact has to choose someone close to them to disappear from the world.”

“Oh,” Pete and Claudia said at the same time.

“Yeah. We should do some research on the artifact, but in the mean time we keep looking.”

Pete groaned. “So. Many. Files.”

Claudia snorted. “At least we aren’t getting shot at, dude.”

“I think I might prefer that.”

Myka rolled her eyes and got up to grab a box they hadn’t searched through yet. She plopped it in front of Pete. He looked up at her and if she’d betrayed him somehow. Myka shot him a smile.

“Back to the grind then.”

“Slave driver,” Pete muttered as he wrenched the lid off the box.

Both Myka and Claudia laughed, grabbing a handful of files and sitting down yet again to read.

 

Leena appeared in the kitchen around lunch time, not saying anything about why she was missing for so long. Myka shrugged it off. It was probably nothing. Not everything had to do with Artie and the problem she was having with him.

She didn’t see Artie until dinner that night. Again her muscles tightened in her back, but not as much this time. It seemed like her outburst the day before had gotten rid of some of the tension she was feeling, but not nearly enough to make her screaming back feel that much better. She shifted in her seat to try and get more comfortable.

Myka had dug through the boxes throughout the day and had managed to finally find the file on Morgan Le Fay’s spell book. She sat down again in her seat and started to flip through the pages, reading thoroughly, trying to find something that Helena had missed. She felt Artie’s eyes on her the whole time she was flipping through the file. Myka ignored him, or at least tried to. She had to read a few lines over and over again just to be sure she actually knew what they said.

She finally sat the file down and slid it onto the table, flicking her eyes up to Artie’s and then quickly back down again. Myka wondered if she should tell Artie about the artifact that they had found, after all it would save the Warehouse, but something stilled her tongue. Perhaps it was better to keep something as a bargaining tool just in case Artie had come down on the wrong side after last night.

Myka ate dinner in silence, with Pete, Claudia, and Leena chatting happily around her. Artie even occasionally made a few gruff comments, as was his normal routine. She didn’t feel like talking though, didn’t feel like drawling any attention to herself. Perhaps that would delay the conversation she knew was waiting for her sometime in the near future.

Once the plates were cleared Artie stood up. “Myka can I talk to you a minute? Alone?”

Myka swallowed hard. “Sure.” She stood up shakily and followed Artie out of the kitchen and into the library. Even the smell of books wasn’t a comfort to her now. She looked over and expected Artie to start speaking as soon as they stopped, but the older man stayed silent. She rocked back and forth on her heels as the silence between the two of them started to drag on.

“So…what’s up?” she finally asked, just managing to keep her voice steady.

Artie looked up at her, scowling. Myka’s hands clenched. That wasn’t a good sign.

“I haven’t been fair to you recently.”

Myka’s jaw almost hit the floor. That was not what she was expecting.

“I—I’m sorry.”

That she expected even less. An apology from Artie? It was unheard of; she’d thought that she’d see a unicorn horn as an artifact first. She wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“I’ll stop the risky tests, but I’m still running all the tests that won’t interfere with the function of the artifact. We have to be completely sure, both the Regents and I, that this is really an artifact. It’s standard procedure normally. I was just taking it too far before, you were right. I do not like the insinuations you made about _why_ I was taking it too far, no matter how accurate they may or may not be. I am the superior here. That said, because I was wrong, as long as we can agree that we won’t speak of this anymore it won’t be an issue.”

Well, at least the other shoe had dropped somewhat. She didn’t exactly think that Artie would take everything sitting down. In a way that sort of made her more comfortable. She’d probably wonder what was wrong if Artie hadn’t fought back in some way to the things she’d said.

“And if the pen does keep testing positive as an artifact, then I suppose there are a few tests that can be devised to make sure it’s working on you. This isn’t personal anymore, but for Warehouse purposes. The Regents would rather not have an agent in the middle of a psychotic break working in the field.”

Myka mouth pulled into a tight lipped frown. She wasn’t exactly fond of that aspect of this little talk. Why did everyone think she was still insane after she’d brought home an honest to god artifact that the Warehouse hadn’t really known about before. But she supposed that safe was better than sorry. The Warehouse did stranger things to people than drive them mad.

“If it turns out that everything empirically proves that you’re telling the truth then we’ll see where we can go from there. And I suppose I’ll probably owe you another apology,” Artie added, grudgingly.

She sighed. “Ok, as long as you’re not going overboard anymore, this is all ok. But perhaps you should run the tests in here? I’m not exactly sure I trust you back in your workshop.”

Artie’s scowl deepened. “Fair enough.”

Myka nodded. “Then it’s settled. We’ll both do the jobs that we were assigned and we won’t have to worry about the other.”

Artie inclined his head. “Alright then. I suppose you should get back to searching the files then.”

“Will do.” Myka backed out of the room and headed back to the kitchen once more.

 

Myka paced her room once more. Alright, so Artie hadn’t come down firmly one side or the other, but most assuredly in the middle. She bit the inside of her lip. If her sneaking suspicion from earlier about where Leena had been most of the morning was right, then she would bet Leena was the only reason that he hadn’t come down firmly against her. Whatever reason he had decided to shape up, Myka was grateful. She didn’t have to worry about him for now.

Well, she didn’t have to worry about him as much, anyway.

For now she could concentrate on the problem of Morgan Le Fay’s spell book and its side effects. The file sat on her dresser. Even with Artie’s concession there was something comforting about keeping a trump card just in case. Artie didn’t exactly seem to be the most stable person in this universe. It might come in handy later, it might not.

She eyed the file. She had already told Claudia and Pete about the artifact, though. Telling them about it would be ok, she thought. She could trust them to keep it a secret from Artie at least until they figured out something about the consequences. She needed the help thinking of possible fixes. If they couldn’t think of something together while they kept flipping through other files, then they would have to involve Artie, but that was a while in the future, though perhaps not too long in the future. Myka didn’t want to stay here longer than necessary, and that might mean biting the bullet and telling Artie about the spell book before she really wanted.

She sighed and sat on her bed. When exactly had this all gotten so complicated? She laughed once. It had been complicated since Mrs. Fredrick had showed up at her D.C. apartment. It had never stopped since then. And yet here she was thinking that it had to have been better before. She laughed once again. No, if it wasn’t Artie it would be something else, of that she was sure.

She got up again and changed into pjs. She wasn’t going to sleep another day in her clothes, curled up into a tiny ball. Myka slipped under the covers and stretched out when she was done.

She supposed that as far as complications went interpersonal ones were the worst. She’d much rather deal with an object trying to kill her. At least then she knew its motivation, most likely its game plan. That she could deal with, plan for. Humans were different.

Then again, as stuck as she was with Morgan Le Fay’s spell book and the pen perhaps she really couldn’t even deal with artifacts either right now. She sighed and turned on her side. Maybe this universe had the capacity to be more complicated than home did. Or maybe not. She closed her eyes. It was a nice thought, though. Maybe she’d feel a little less pressured. Another sigh and her breathing deepened, sending her to sleep by steady increments.

 


	40. Chapter 40

Helena woke again. It seemed like her days always seemed to start the same anymore, with the impression of Myka’s lips on her own. Perhaps one morning soon she’d get to have more than just the impression.

If they could ever figure out this bloody Warehouse conundrum, that was.

She swung herself out of bed and headed down stairs after pulling on the first things she found. Claudia was nowhere to be seen when she entered the library, but she hadn’t figured the girl would be there. It was much too early. She poked her laptop awake and brought up the search program. She bit her lip as it went about opening a window. Maybe she’d be lucky. Maybe her feeling would be wrong. Maybe there would be another search result once the window opened.

A window with scrolling rows of code greeted her. She cursed internally and set the lap top aside. Of course she would have no such luck. She didn’t even have the luck for the program to pull up the back door into the firewall that Claudia needed so desperately. She got up and paced the room once more.

It seemed that was all she did anymore, pace rooms. She wanted to do something. This waiting did not suit her one bit. She was a woman of action. She needed that little computer to spit out something, _anything_ that would get her moving again. Like this she had too much time to think about everything that could go wrong, to think about how many ways she could lose Myka if they used that foolish plan of hers.

Claudia found her pacing there an hour later. She flopped down onto the couch, checked the scrolling lines of code, frowned, and looked up at Helena.

“How long have you been up?”

“Long enough, darling.” She whipped around and took another circuit of the room.

“What’s got you so worked up, dude?”

Helena sighed. “Myka suggested we use the pens in conjunction with the spell book. Needless to say I’m strictly against that option, but she brought up a number of fair, if foolish, points.”

“And you think she’s going to push for her plan if we don’t find anything else?”

Helena nodded.

“Would it be so bad? I mean thinking about it, it seems like a solid plan.”

“No, it isn’t. For a number of reasons.” Helena ran her hands through her hair. “Have you found anything on the spell book and its origins and instances it might have been used?”

“No, not yet. Weeding through the folklore about Morgan Le Fay is taking a while without the normal Warehouse servers to help. As for uses, that’s going to be even harder. Not like anyone is going to actually take an account that says ‘hey I made this guy disappear to get back my favorite pocket watch’ seriously and preserve it, let alone put it on the internet. Not that there aren’t just as crazy things on the internet now, but you know what I mean. Stuff from before the whole digital age people have to care enough about to actually expend the effort to put it up online.”

Helena nodded. “Keep searching then. Anything at this point is better than nothing.”

“Will do, sky captain.”

“How far is your program from finding a back door?”

Claudia glanced down at her computer. “It’s got about two thirds of it scanned. Literally the odds are rising astronomically that it’ll find it as we sit here. I’d give it another day at most and that’s if it has to search literally everything. It’ll probably be sometime today. Then I just actually have to get in and get out with what we need for Jinks.”

“Righty-ho then.” She kept pacing.

Claudia looked on for a minute. “Don’t worry, H.G. we’ll get you back to your lady love soon, I promise.”

A humorless smile graced Helena’s face. “Oh, darling, don’t make promises you can’t keep. I’m not going back until it’s safe to go and at this rate that might take quite a long while.”

“Well, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine.”

“Spend a hundred years in bronze and see if you maintain a wholly sunny disposition.”

“You weren’t wholly sunny before that.”

“True enough.” She walked towards the door of the library. “I haven’t been of a sunny disposition since Christina died.”

 

Helena ended up in the kitchen, cooking just to give her hands something to do. She felt Leena come in behind her and look her over. The other woman walked up to the bar and sat down on the stools there.

“Not that I mind someone cooking instead of me, but you’re troubled.”

“Aren’t I always?”

“More than normal. Black flecks are in your aura.”

“I can’t say that it surprises me.” She pounded the pizza dough a little harder than need be.

“You don’t want to talk about it.”

“No, I find that I don’t. I’ve already told your significant other. Why don’t you just ask her?”

“I find it’s better to ask the person than a secondary source.”

“Be that as it may, the primary source does not want to talk. A secondary source will have to do.”

“You haven’t been like this since right before the Minoan trident.” Leena stood, looking indecisive.

“Of course not. I’ve had no reason to be.”

“Myka.”

Helena looked up, darkness dancing in her eyes. “I know you are trying to help, Leena, darling. But this is not helping. Please, go talk to Claudia or something else.”

“But leaving you alone isn’t the answer either. You’re…conflicted. That’s why the darkness is there.”

“Leena.”

Leena sat back down at the bar. “Ok. I’ll stop, but I’m staying here.”

Helena sighed loudly but went back to making lunch.

 

Claudia slid into the kitchen on socked feet as the pizza was baking. “H.G.!” She almost fumbled her laptop as she scrambled to a stop.

“What is it, darling?” Helena watched as the cheese on the pizza started to bubble lightly.

Claudia rushed over to the counter and plopped down her lap top beside the Brit. “I got in. The back door was a lot weaker than I thought. I got in, in less than thirty minutes. I know where he is.”

Helena snapped out of her almost trance like state. She looked down at the screen and read quickly. “Washington D.C.” She snorted lightly. Ironic how things seemed to come full circle.

“Yeah, I’m doing research on the building right now. It’s some government building, but I mean what isn’t in D.C.? It’s not like breaking into the White House or anything, though. I’ve got a few ideas to get through, but I think you should probably help with the whole breaking and entering thing. You seem to be really good at that.”

“So it seems, darling, so it seems. You’ll have to walk me through some of the more modern security measures, but I’m sure together we can come up with something quite effective.”

Claudia pulled up a schematic of the building. “Jinks is here.” She pointed at the basement level all the way in the back left corner of the building. “The metronome is up here.” Again she pointed, but this time to the top floor of building in the opposite corner.

“Well, that presents quite the challenge. We most certainly can’t be two places at once.”

“But there are two of us.”

Helena nodded. “That there are, but having us both together allows us to help the other out of sticky situations. If we must split up we have to figure everything out on our own.”

“But if there’s only one of us it’s easier to slip around unnoticed.”

Helena inclined her head from side to side. “Only sometimes, darling. In some situations it’s much less suspicious to have two people walking together, looking like they belong, talking in a relaxed manner, than it is for one person to be striding down the hall on their own.”

“Which one do you think this will be?”

“I’m not sure. Are their pictures of the inside of the building?”

“I should be able to find some somewhere, but they might not be when all the workers are there. They sort of frown on employees taking pictures inside secure government buildings.”

“Anything would help, darling.”

The pizza dinged behind them. Helena turned to get it, but Leena motioned for her not worry about it and got up to do it herself. Helena focused back in on the blue prints.

“Then there’s also the problem of getting Agent Jinks’s body out of the building. Neither you nor I has the upper body strength to carry him and wheeling him out would look too suspicious. The odds of one of us managing to get up stairs and then back down again without getting caught are not favorable. And I have no idea how long it takes to revive someone with the metronome. From what my Claudia told me to her it seemed to take quite the eternity, but being lost in another’s mind might only create that impression. And the longer we are in the building the higher the odds of us getting caught are. The best plan would be for each of us to get our objectives and get out as soon as possible, but as I said before there are quite a few complications even with that plan.”

“I mean it’s a morgue or something like it. There have to be gurneys. And there has to be some kind of back door that they bring the bodies in and out of. Something tells me they don’t exactly come in through the front with everyone else.”

Helena searched the building schematic carefully. She pointed to a small loading bay in the back of building. “I would think that would be the place.” A small alley abutted the door. “But any vehicle we parked there would be instantly noticeable.”

Claudia squinted and tilted her head. “Maybe, but maybe we could time it so it wouldn’t be.”

“What do you mean?”

“We plan the break in during some big political to do and someone would just brush off the car’s presence as someone trying to get a better parking spot. They’ll call a tow truck, but if we’re quick enough we can get in and out before they get there and be gone.”

“What big event is any time soon? There aren’t any national holidays soon.”

“Oh, please. It’s D.C. There’s always something going on. And this building is literally one street off the Mall.” Claudia pulled the computer over to her and typed a few words into a search engine. A minute later she turned it to Helena, smiling. “See what I mean?”

Three different events were listed, attendance of each one listed in the few thousands, all located somewhere near the Mall.

“Alright. Determine a day in the next week that’s the busiest. If your plan is going to have any chance at all of working it has to be then.”

Claudia typed away on her computer for another minute. “What about tomorrow? There’s a parade, two protests, at least three visiting dignitaries, two galas, and a remembrance walk. And to add the icing of course, congress and everyone else are in session. So that just adds to it.”

“Anyway you can get us onto a plane that short notice? We would almost have to fly out tonight in order to get there at an opportune time.”

“Psh, are you kidding, or course I can get us on a plane. Oh ye of little faith.”

“Well, then, that takes care of that. Now if only we had a more solid plan in place to go with our…rather hurried time frame.”

“We got this.”

Helena sighed. She wasn’t quite sure of that, even if she was quite the genius when it came to…well anything, but fooling her way into places she wasn’t supposed to be was one area that she particularly excelled at.

“Where exactly did the file on the spell book say it was?”

“Library of Congress, in a special rare books room that only a few have access to. Warehouse agents being one of those few people. The thing won’t whammy anyone, it has to be activated and all that, but you know, better not have it accessible to everyone. Besides, ancient books don’t exactly keep well on the shelves. Librarians scanned the pages in a little while back, so it’s not like anyone really needs to see it anyway.”

“And where exactly is the Library of Congress? I was more asking for the area, darling not the specific place.”

“Oh, well. It’s in D.C.”

A small smile graced Helena’s face. “Well, isn’t that opportune.”

Claudia snorted. “A little bit, yeah.”

“Do we need to call ahead to access the book?”

Claudia frowned. “I’m not sure. I’ll check the file again to make sure and call if need be.”

“Do that, darling. In the meantime I’m going to inform Artie of our rather sudden departure.” Helena walked from the room, grabbing a slice of cooling pizza from the countertop where Leena had set it.

She found Artie in his temporary room sifting through a pile of documents, frowning.

“Knock, knock,” Helena said, drawing the man’s attention to her in the doorway.

“Yes?” He asked glancing over his glasses.

“It seems that Claudia’s program has found a promising artifact. We’ll be going to fetch it as soon as possible.”

“Which artifact?”

“Morgan Le Fay’s spell book.”

Artie sat back. “Of course…” His expression shifted into a scowl. “But the side effect…”

“Yes, well, we have read about that too, but perhaps it might be better while Claudia’s program is still running to go get the book just in case. It can’t very well hurt. And even with the side effects it might be the only thing able to return the Warehouse.”

“Would the Warehouse even be worth returning at that price?”

Helena was thrown off at Artie’s rather introspective question. She didn’t quite know how to respond.

“The Warehouse can be rebuilt, but it’s not like we can get a person back.”

“Returning the Warehouse to its former state would bring back Myka.”

“One life for another hardly seems to be worth it.”

“Be that as it may, we should have all the options at our immediate fingertips don’t you think?”

Artie bit his lip as he nodded. “Fine, fine. But we’re not using it until we’ve assessed every single option and we all agree.”

“Fair enough.” Helena turned to go pack but paused. Her fist clenched as she turned around to look at Artie over her shoulder. “Just so you know, there might be a way to get around the side effect.”

“How?”

Helena glanced down at the pen resting on Artie’s desk. Artie’s eyes followed her line of sight. “Nothing is for certain. It’s just an idea.”

“Go, I’ll see what I can think of.” He picked up the pen, eyebrows scrunching into one long line.

Helena turned and walked off to pack.

 

They were on a red eye to D.C. a few hours later. Claudia sat beside her furiously typing away at her computer trying to get any and all information that she could about the building they were breaking into. She had already printed out two faked ID badges while they were at the B&B. Helena thought they would pass muster, but only in looks. If there was anything that they had to scan in for they were done for.

She was nervous. So very nervous. Artie and the Regents could get them out of this, but this was their one and only chance to get Agent Jinks back. They blew this and this universe would permanently without the agent. Helena did not want that, did not want that to rest on her shoulders.

She was going in almost blind. If she had had the time she would have spent weeks planning this. Every possibility would have been laid out with a contingency plan for all of them. There was no time for that, though. There was barely time to hash out a real plan let alone forty-two contingencies.

Claudia pushed over her lap top every now and then, letting her read the screen before pulling it back and searching for even more information. Bit by bit the plan was forming in her mind, but it was risky. It was close to suicidal. Which Helena would be fine with, if others weren’t relying on her. But this short notice it was suicidal or nothing it seemed.

As the plane started its final descent her stomach twisted into knots. They had a few hours until the office opened in the morning after they landed. Helena knew she should sleep so she would be sharper, but today of all days she knew that wasn’t going to happen. She’d spend every moment she could getting more information and continuing to plan. If only she actually thought that it would help in the long run.

 

Helena surveyed the building carefully. It looked like any other moderately tall office building from the outside but on the inside it had quite the above average security system. It made her long for the good old days of sneaking past a guard and picking a lock with a skeleton key.

Beside her a blonde head of hair shifted. Helena turned to the newly disguised Claudia. The blonde hair looked odd with her complexion. And quite frankly the makeup looked a little garish to her, dark eye shadow smeared to kingdom come and red lipstick, but if that’s what Claudia thought would get her up to the executive suite then so be it. The suit didn’t quite mesh with her vision of the girl either, but she had to admit when she wanted to she could pull it off, all tall lean limbs moving with a purpose. It didn’t quite make her confident in their plan, however.

“I wonder what Leena would pay to see you in a get up like this,” Helena slipped a finger under Claudia’s suit jacket.

Claudia turned to her and cocked a brow. “Who’s to say she hasn’t?”

“Well then, darling, I’m surprised she let you out of her sight after that.”

Claudia snorted. “Pretty sure she can probably still read my aura back in Univille.” She paused a second. “Real question is how much _I_ would pay to see Leena in a suit.”

“I don’t have such problems.”

“Of course not, Myka’s hardly ever not in a suit. But have you ever seen her in a bikini? It’s all about what you don’t have.”

Helena’s mouth went dry at the thought. She shook herself a minute later. Now was not the time for this conversation. She stood up a little straighter and smoothed out her own disguise, mousy brown hair that fell into her face, a lab coat, and thick black rimmed glasses. She looked every bit the lowly lab tech that would be found in the basement of the building.

“Righty-ho then. Parade starts in fifteen minutes?”

Claudia nodded. “Should slow down the tow truck enough for us to get in and out.”

“Come on then.” Helena slid into the front seat of the car, Claudia quickly climbing in beside her.

Helena switched the car into gear and drove around the block in the slow D.C. traffic until she reached the entrance to the alley and pulled in quickly. She pulled to a stop just outside what she thought the security cameras’ ranges should be and cut the engine.

She turned to Claudia. “You’re clear about what you’re supposed to do?”

“Yes, H.G. Trust me. After three straight hours of drilling I’ve got this. Get in, get out, meet you here and we peel away like bats out of hell down side streets to avoid the parade.” She held up Helena’s fake employee ID. “I spent the extra time rigging these babies RFID chips to be able to hack some of the proximity locks.”

Helena shot the younger woman a glare before snatching the card. “I can’t say I approve of the inattention, but at least you were productive. You’re sure you can hack the safe?”

“H.G.”

“Right. Go then. If all goes well—”

“—you’ll already be here, I know.” Claudia opened the door and got out. “We’ll be fine, dude. Chill. World isn’t going to end you know. That’s sort of already almost happened.” With a shrug Claudia was gone, strutting down the street in black patent leather heels like she owned all of D.C.

Helena took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It was too late to turn back now. A numb calmness descended over her. They could do this. They had to do this. She was a genius. She would figure it out. She was more clever than anyone in that building, forget the stupid machine that was the security system. Anyone or anything could be outwitted if she stayed cool and calm.

Her eyes snapped open. Her breathing had evened out, her mind silenced. She was ready. Helena popped out of the car and shuffled down the street watching her feet instead of the area around her. She mumbled apologies at anyone she almost ran into, forcing herself to blush brightly each time. Sometimes being such a good actress had its plus sides.

She stepped inside the building and glanced up quickly, taking in the room. Helena walked towards the front desk, flashing her badge to the guard on duty. He nodded at her and waved her through. She sighed almost noiselessly. Claudia’s badges had passed muster at least preliminarily. Careless guards could at least still be counted on it seemed.

Helena walked at her slow, shuffling pace towards the elevators, resisting the strong urge to speed up now that she was in the building. There were still far too many people around to break character just yet. She stood waiting for an elevator with a group of ten or so other people, scuffing her feet and shifting from side to side impatiently.

“Good morning,” someone said near her ear.

Helena almost jumped out of her skin but managed to contain it. “Uh, um, good morning,” she mumbled.

The man in front of her was short, even by Victorian standards. He also wore a lab coat and had on almost the same exact pair of glasses that Helena did. She groaned. She hoped this was not going to turn into some guy trying to find his soul mate in the elevator. Oh please, anything but that.

“I haven’t seen you around, what lab do you work in?” He looked like an overly enthusiastic puppy.

“Um, the basement actually.”

“Oh right, morgue tech. How’s that treating you? Isn’t it cold?”

She shrugged, barely moving her shoulders. “You, uh, get used to it I guess.”

“Well I work up in toxicology. You know, you should call me if you ever need lab work run quickly. Or, you know, just whenever.” He smiled brightly.

Helena fought the urge to roll her eyes. Smooth, this man was not. “Oh, I, um…sure?” Helena blushed profusely.

The elevator that was going up dinged loudly and Helena thought she had never been so glad to hear a sound in her life.

The man motioned towards the door. “That’s me. I’ll look forward to your call. Just ask for Dan when you call up.”

She smiled shyly. “Ok.”

With that he got on the elevator. As soon as the doors shut behind him Helena let out the eye roll that she’d been holding back the entire time. Men.

The next elevator finally dinged, lighting up a down arrow. She slipped on the lift as soon as the doors opened, quickly situating herself into the back corner of the small space. Two others got on with her, barely sparing her a glance. There were definite advantages to playing the mousy girl.

The elevator stopped a floor later, letting them all off. Helena waited until the other two people she’d ridden with had strode off towards their destinations before looking around quickly and walking off in the direction of the morgue. She was almost half way to being out again. She could do this.

She strode down the halls, keeping her face towards the ground, hair in her face as much as possible. She didn’t know if the guards watching the cameras had been told to look out for her or Claudia or any of the other Warehouse agents, but it was better that they didn’t get a glimpse of her face anyway. No matter if they would get off from all charges later if they were caught it was better if there were no charges at all. That would mean something would’ve gone wrong and they just couldn’t have that.

A few more turns and she was at the morgue’s door. Helena had to admit this place was rather built like a rabbit warren. If she didn’t have an eidetic memory she might be hopelessly lost down here. But at the same time with all the nooks and crannies it might play to her advantage later. She catalogued a few halls that she could dart down at short notice and turned her attention back to the door.

This early in the morning no one should be in yet. Everyone should have been either not into work just yet or filling out paperwork in their offices elsewhere in the basement. Still, she paused and listened for any noise coming from the room before grabbing the door and opening it.

Inside the room was deathly quiet and cold enough to send a shiver through Helena’s body even with the lab coat and clothes under it covering her body. She hurried forward, closing the door behind her quietly. Helena surveyed the walls looking for the bank of drawers that would hold the compartment that Agent Jinks was in. Finding it on the third wall she strode over, quickly locating the number she needed and pulled out the drawer.

She lifted the sheet and smiled slightly when she saw Agent Jinks’s face. “I do believe it’s time to go home, darling.”

She dropped the sheet back over his body and looked around for a gurney, anything that she could use to help her get Jinks out of there. In the opposite corner of the room there was a gurney with a black bag resting on top. Perfect.

She wheeled it over and lined it up with the drawer, flicking the brakes on the wheels. Helena considered all the different ways which she could get Jinks onto the gurney, but there was no real winner. She decided on the least messy and went for it.

“This will probably hurt, darling, but it’s not as if you’ll feel it. For now anyway.”

Helena pushed Jinks forward, rolling his body off of the drawer and onto the gurney an inch or so below. His body thumped onto the soft surface. Helena winced, but set to work pulling out the edges of the bag that had gotten caught under Jinks and set about zipping the bag.

She was almost done when a voice sounded behind her. “Of all the people I thought I would see here you were the last one I expected.”

Helena froze, cursing a blue streak in her head. They were made. They were more than made, they were caught. She only hoped that Claudia hadn’t been caught as well.

Footsteps echoed behind her in the quiet room. “Though you aren’t working alone, are you?”

Helena bit her lip hard and stayed facing Jinks.

“I bet if I were to walk up to the executive suites I’d find Claudia in one of them, wouldn’t I? She’s the only one that could have gotten the information to get you this far.”

Helena turned around to see Mrs. Lattimer leaning against one of the walls, looking like she didn’t have a care in the world. It seemed no matter what the world, even months later, some scenarios played out almost exactly the same. She hoped she knew how to play this to still get Jinks out alive on the other side as her own Claudia had.

“Hello, Mrs. Lattimer.”

“Call me Jane, I insist.”

“A strange place for such pleasantries.” The words were out of her mouth before she thought. She could have kicked herself. She was supposed to stay on the woman’s good side, not make snide comments.

“Fair enough.” She paused looking Helena up and down. “You know, I don’t quite understand why you’re here instead of Leena or Pete. Especially since you don’t seem to be our Helena, now are you? The pen took care of her.”

“No, I don’t seem to be ‘your’ Helena. But that doesn’t mean that I would leave behind Agent Jinks even if I’m not from here.”

“You barely know the man.”

Helena shook her head. “In this world, but where I come from we’re several months down the road from this fiasco. I’ve gotten to know him over that time, even if he is a rather quiet man. Besides that, I wouldn’t let Claudia suffer when I know I can help her.”

Jane took another few steps forward. “She might suffer anyway. You know what the metronome does.”

Helena nodded. “But I also know how to fix it.”

Jane titled her head to the side. “Well then.” She glanced behind Helena to the black bag. “I don’t suppose you know how to guide Claudia through waking him up, do you?”

“I have the general knowledge.”

Jane shook her head. “That won’t be enough. Call her down here.”

Helena just stared at the woman. “Pardon me?”

“You heard me right, H.G. I don’t see the point in letting yet another agent die when we do have the means to save him safely. Or as safely as anything in this line of work.”

Helena’s brain raced a million miles an hour.  Was the woman in front of her really serious? Was this going to work out so easily in their favor? It had played out almost exactly like this for her Claudia, was it just supposed to work out like this in all the universes? Or was the woman just trying to get Claudia down here so they could undeniably prove that it had been her and Claudia that had pulled the heist so they could punish the both of them? After all, if Claudia wasn’t caught there was no real evidence against her. Helena could say that she was the one who hacked the database, that her Claudia had taught her how to hack back in her own world. This world’s Claudia could avoid the punishment if nothing else would work out in their favor.

She felt her phone vibrate twice in rapid succession in her pocket. Claudia was out of the building successfully, metronome in hand. If she didn’t respond in some way Claudia was to run. They had agreed upon those rules before this whole thing had started. She was safe. Now it was Helena’s decision to call her back or not.

Jane took another step forward, hands out, palms up. “You’re over thinking this. I don’t want to get you or Claudia into trouble. At the moment I’m the only one who knows you’re here.”

“How would I know if you were lying? There isn’t exactly proof.”

Jane met her eyes steadily. “When it was assessed that Claudia might try to make a break for Agent Jinks the Regents collectively decided that one of us would guard his body on top of all the other precautions we had put into place, an extra safe guard if you will. No one put up a fuss about the fact that he could be brought back. No one even mentioned it, really, only the danger that Claudia could cause if she was allowed to have the metronome. I volunteered for the job. I didn’t agree with them, but it’s not as if they knew that. I would’ve just brought him back myself, but I don’t have the connection to him that’s required to safely navigate the resurrection process. So I had to wait for Claudia to come to me. You wouldn’t have gotten this far if say Mr. Kosan was guarding his body. We’re on the same side in this.”

Helena bit the inside of her lip. She didn’t know. “Words can be twisted into such pretty stories. I should know.”

“Does it look like I’m lying?” Jane asked, still meeting her eyes.

“I have seen stranger things than people looking into my eyes and lying straight to my face.” Still though, the feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that Jane Lattimer was telling the truth.

She made a snap decision and pulled out her cell phone, hitting the speed dial and holding the phone up to her ear. Half a ring later Claudia was almost shouting at her.

“H.G. where are you, dude? Are you in trouble? Do you need me to come help you?”

Helena stared at Jane. “I don’t believe so, darling, but perhaps.” Being as vague as possible would probably be best just in case. She didn’t want anyone to know for certain it was Claudia in case she decided to bolt.

“Did someone catch you?”

“Mmm.”

“Guards?”

“No.”

“Regents?”

“Yes.”

“Oh god, which one.”

“You’ve met her before, darling.”

“Pete’s Mom? Are we busted completely?”

“I’m not sure. She’s offering to help, I believe.”

“Seriously?”

“I’m not sure.”

“What do we do?”

“Do you trust her?”

“I don’t know. Better her than Kosan.”

“So we’ve already established. It’s up to you.”

“She’s offering to help us save Jinksy?”

“She is.”

Jane shot her an annoyed look, clearly irritated by the short, unspecific answers she was hearing from Helena.

“Alright. I’m coming down. Do you think we could bust out if need be?”

Jane folded her arms across her chest, revealing the very edge of the Ramati shackle. As wearer she probably had a guard around here somewhere. If she called them in to help hold them that would complicate things. If it was only one Helena could handle that, her kempo skills were more than up to that challenge. If more…it depended on how well they were trained.

“I’m not sure. But probably.”

“Our cover would still be blow, but hey, at least we’d have Jinksy.”

“Mmm.”

“Be down in a sec.”

“Alright, darling.”

Helena hit the end call button and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

“That was delightfully uninformative,” Jane said, cocking an eyebrow.

“I suppose that would have been the point, darling.”

“You don’t trust me.”

“Would you, were you in my position?”

She paused a second. “I suppose not.”

“Mmm, yes well I suppose then some slack might be in order? I’ll trust you once this is all over.”

“There’s not really a point after we’re done to trust me.”

“For future reference there is.”

They stared at each other for a long while. Claudia finally burst into the room five minutes later, drawing their eyes away from one another. The spruced up red head clutched onto a case for dear life, striding towards Helena. Once she got to her side, she looked at the black bag on the gurney behind her.

“That Jinks?”

Helena nodded.

“Ok.” She plopped down the case and flipped it open. “So how does this work, exactly?” She looked up at Jane.

Jane came forward and stepped around Helena, unzipping the black bag. She pulled the sheet down, revealing Jinks’s face and chest. She gestured for Claudia to come over to her with the metronome.

“Place one hand on his chest and when you’re ready put the other on the metronome. You have to think of what Jinks was like in life. You do that and you’ll be drawn into almost another world. You’ll have to find Jinks and bring him back with you into this world. And whatever you do, do not go into the light with Jinks.”

Claudia nodded. “Ok.” She swallowed hard and put a hand on Jinks’s chest. She hesitated for a few more seconds and put her shaking hand on the metronome. Immediately she started to gasp for breath.

“Focus Claudia, focus on how Jinks was while he was alive. Make that all you can think about. Focus Claudia!”

Helena saw the fear in the girl’s eyes as she kept gasping. She tried to choke in a deep breath and failed, but closed her eyes anyway. Her face scrunched as if she was thinking intensely for a few seconds, all the while her breaths were growing shorter and shorter.

Until one moment they suddenly evened out again and Claudia collapsed against Jinks’s chest, hands still firmly on the metronome and on the skin above Jinks’s heart.

Helena felt Jane relax beside her marginally. “She’s in. It’s up to her now to bring him back.”

“How long will it take?”

Jane shrugged. “Depends on the two of them. Could be a few minutes, could be hours.”

“How long before the others come?”

“I’m not sure. I can assure them it was a false alarm, a morgue attendant hitting the wrong door, but they’ll still send someone to check.” She glanced over Claudia and Jinks once more before turning to Helena. “Watch over them, I’m going to call the others and let them know it was a false alarm. I wait much longer and someone will be here within the hour.”

Helena nodded. “Alright.”

Her brow scrunched. “No words about how I might go off and tip them off to your presence?”

“I told you I would trust you when what you said was done.” Helena nodded towards the pair. “You’ve done what you said you would. I suppose that does earn you a modicum of trust, even if you are a Regent.”

“You never have been fond of the Regents.”

“I can’t say I have. Then again trapping me in a glorified pokéball after stripping my memories from my body did not endear me to you anymore.”

“If it helps that was one of the more humane punishments.”

Helena glanced over at the other woman. “No, I think that decidedly does not help.” She looked back to Claudia and Jinks. “Shouldn’t you be making that phone call?”

Jane nodded and walked from the room.

Alone again Helena started to pace. Waiting did not suit her. But waiting it seemed was what she did in this universe. She really hoped that back in her own world waiting would be put into the back seat again.

Jane came back a few minutes later and nodded at Helena. The Regents were taken care of for now. A slight bit of tension leaked out of her. The other woman leaned against one of the autopsy tables and stared at Claudia and Jinks while Helena continued to pace.

Her mind started to wander into dangerous territory. What if Claudia didn’t wake up? What happened if she went into the light as Jane had forbidden her to? If that was the proverbial light, then would Claudia die as well as Jinks? What if in this universe Jinks wasn’t meant to come back and that was the price for trying?

She took a deep breath and tried to quiet her inner demons. Everything would be fine. Claudia knew not to go into the light. Claudia was a strong, determined young woman. She would make it out just fine with Jinks in tow.

Her pacing increased in tempo.

What seemed like hours later two gasps simultaneously rang out. Helena whipped around to face Jinks and Claudia. Her knees almost gave out in relief when she saw the two of them stirring and starting to sit up. They had made it through.

Claudia coughed a few times and stood slowly, using the gurney to keep herself steady. “You didn’t say it was going to be like a bad trip in there.”

Jane shrugged. “I only knew the very basics.”

Claudia nodded and turned back to Jinks, who was still blinking against the light. “You ok?”

He took a few seconds to reply. “As ok as can be expected just coming back from the dead.”

Claudia snorted. “With a response like that I think you’re gonna be just fine.” A smile broke out over her face. “You’re going to be just fine.”

Helena walked forward. “I hate to cut the happy moment short, but I do believe the faster we get out of here the better.”

The red head nodded. “Right. Regent brigade probably on the way.”

Helena glanced quickly back at Jane. “Yes. Did you bring the clothes we picked up?”

She pointed over and to the bag she had brought with her. Helena darted over and picked up the purse that could probably qualify as a small suitcase and walked back over.

“Do you think you’re ready to sit up, Agent Jinks?” Helena asked.

He pushed himself up, wincing slightly. “I’ll be fine. Little stiff. Nothing a little stretching and a breath of fresh air won’t fix.”

Helena nodded and dug through the bag, flinging various articles of clothing at the man. “Then have at it.”

Claudia took a step back to allow Jinks to swing his legs off the gurney and her knees gave out. Helena stepped forward and caught the girl quickly.

“I suggest you be rather careful. The both of you. It seems coming back from the dead isn’t just an ordeal for the dead.”

Jinks stood up, sheet wrapped around his bottom half, wobbling a little. “An ordeal is a kind way to put it.”

Helena helped Claudia walk over to the autopsy table where Jane was standing, facing away from the man to give him some semblance of privacy while he dressed.

“How long do you think until the Regents know something is wrong?” Claudia asked.

“A day at most.”

Claudia glanced over at Helena. “So we could be back at the B&B by then.”

“If everything goes smoothly at the Library of Congress, then yes. But how exactly are we going to purchase a plane ticket for a dead man, pray tell?”

 “Don’t worry, I’ve got it handled.”

“The government isn’t as secure as we think it is, is it?” Jane asked quietly.

Claudia smirked. “No, not really.”

Jinks appeared beside them a second later, still looking a little shaky, but fine for the circumstances.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Helena nodded and looked at Jane. “I suppose thanks are in order.” A second later she tacked on, “And apologies.”

“Don’t worry about it. Go, get what you need and get out of here. They’ll catch up with you eventually, but better to be surrounded by allies.”

“Indeed.”

Helena turned towards the door, keeping a cursory grip on Claudia as the three of them shuffled out. “Righty-ho then, off to the Library of Congress?”

Claudia nodded. “Yup, the librarian in charge of the collection is supposed to meet us at ten.”

“Good.” She continued leading the group out of the building and to the car.

 


	41. Chapter 41

Myka woke up early the next morning, yawning and stretching. She felt a little more rested today, it was nice. After the stress and worry over Artie for the past few days a good night’s sleep was just what the doctor ordered. She wondered idly if Helena had slept any better last night after the past two restless nights.

She hadn’t seen Helena last night. She sat bolt upright. Oh god, had something happened to her? Why hadn’t she showed up last night in her dreams? This was the first time that she hadn’t seen her in some capacity since this whole debacle again. Oh god, that really didn’t bode well. Was Helena ok? Was she even alive? Even when she hadn’t been asleep before she’d had that strange dream of being in the car with her.

Something had to have happened to her. Myka’s heart beat sped up and her mouth went dry. Oh god, what had happened to her? Would she ever even know? Without the dreams she couldn’t talk to Helena. She couldn’t do anything. She might never know. That thought turned Myka’s stomach to lead. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t.

Maybe it was just because she had managed to get home. Maybe something had happened with the pen and she’d gone home before she had wanted to. Myka clung onto the thought like a life boat. Yes, Helena was fine. She would be fine.

But oh god, what if she wasn’t? Myka had to try to help somehow, someway. But how in the world was she supposed to help someone who was literally in another universe? The only thing that had been able to even get her here was an artifact. It wasn’t like they had a plethora of universe travelling artifacts at hand. At this juncture they didn’t even really have a plethora of artifacts period.

Myka bit her lip. The pen. The dreams were probably caused by the pen since both Myka and Helena had been whammied by the same artifact virtually at the same time. Maybe she could use that connection to get to the other universe instead of back home. She would do anything to make sure Helena was ok. They were so close now to going home. This couldn’t be happening. She would get over there and she would do whatever she had to, to get Helena back.

She stood up and threw on clothes. Quickly she drug her fingers through her hair to smooth down the worst of her mess of curls. She glanced down and saw the file on the spell book, her trump card against Artie. Myka froze. Artie. He was the one who had the pen still. If she went to him now and said she needed the pen because her dreams had stopped god even knew what he would do. Probably say it was for the better and not help her, not give her the pen. She couldn’t allow that to happen.

Myka picked up the file. Her biggest bargaining chip to ensure getting home, if she had to sacrifice it just to make sure Helena was safe, then so be it. She pounded down the stairs and made a beeline for the library.

Artie was already there running what looked like a stretched out paper clip that was glowing bright fluorescent purple over the pen.

“I need the pen, Artie. I—I have to get to Helena. Something’s wrong.”

“How would you know?” Artie looked up at her, eyes guarded.

“Because I just do.” She shifted from foot to foot, looking away from him.

“The dreams stopped.”

“Yes, I’ve had one every night I’ve been here except last night. Something has to be wrong. I need to get to her Artie. That pen is the only hope I have of being able to get to her. I need it.”

Artie placed a hand on the pen. “You’re hoping it will take you to her?”

Myka nodded.

Artie shook his head. “From what I understand of it, I don’t think it can do that. Even if it somehow connected to two of you I don’t think it will bring you to Helena. It’s programmed to take you back to your own universe, not the one she’s in. That’s even if she actually exists and she’s not a figment of your imagination and you’re finally beginning to recover from your delusions.”

“Delusions don’t just suddenly fade away overnight, Artie. I don’t care if I have to keep using the pen over and over to travel from universe to universe, I’ll find her. I have to find her. I need to find her.”

“And what if nothing’s wrong, Myka? Then you’ve screwed up everything. Either way, if it’s not real and if it is, running head first into this won’t get you anywhere.”

Myka took a deep breath. She thrust out the file. Artie looked and it, head tilted slightly.

“Take it, it’s a file on an artifact that could save the Warehouse. Helena was the one who told me about it. You can have the Warehouse back, just give me the pen.”

Artie didn’t move to grab the file. Myka flicked it towards him once more. He had to take it. It was a way to save his home, his livelihood. He had to take it.

“What if she just didn’t go to sleep last night, Myka?”

“I’ve had a dream about her every night. The first time she wasn’t even asleep.”

“The night after the Warehouse blew up?”

Myka nodded.

“Perhaps that was only because of both of your heightened emotions, they allowed for you to connect without both of you being asleep. It would take much more energy to join a conscious brain to the subconscious of another than to join two subconsciouses.”

“Artie. I don’t care. Something is wrong. I need to make sure she’s ok.” She shook the file again.

Artie shook his head. “I won’t let you make such a rash decision. Take today and just breathe, Myka. Chances are nothing is wrong. You might go to sleep tonight and have another dream with her. Or maybe you’ll finally realize this is all just a huge delusion. Either way, today you aren’t getting this pen.”

“Artie, what if she’s just hurt right now and I can still get there and save her?”

“Myka, this isn’t like you. You’ve thrown all reason out the window. I just explained at least three different reasons why it’s not a good idea for you to have this pen and you just jumped right past them all. If that isn’t a reason in and of itself not to give you this pen I don’t know what is.”

“Arite—” She took a step forward.

“Don’t Artie me, any arguments you can come up with are just going to be repetitive. If she’s hurt the others will help her. So what you’re going to do is walk out of this library, you’re going to eat breakfast with the others, you’re going to search through the files like you have been, and tomorrow if everything is still the same, then maybe, maybe I’ll think about giving you the pen. But only if you’re calm and reasonable. Now go.”

Myka drew the file back to her and crossed her arms over it. “Fine. But if I find out that she was hurt and there was even the slimmest possibility of me being able to help her, I swear to god, Artie, I don’t know what I’ll do, but it’ll be something. I can’t—I won’t—lose her.”

Artie rolled his eyes. “Go.”

Myka turned around and strode out of the room but not before catching Artie’s parting comment.

“And I’m the one who’s crazy.”

Myka’s fist clenched. He was the crazy one. His former lover wasn’t even alive. McPherson had betrayed them and was unrepentant. Helena was alive. She had repented for her past sins. She wasn’t trying to hold on to a ghost. There was a difference.

 

The rest of the day passed in an ephemeral blur. Myka barely remembered sitting down in the kitchen, barely remembered eating breakfast or lunch or dinner, barely remembered the files she’d read, not that she’d read that many with how unfocused she was. She knew she’d reread some lines at least fifteen times before they made sense to her addled brain. Helena could be in trouble, could even be de—no she wasn’t going to think that—how could she focus on files at a time like this?

She didn’t miss the looks that passed from one person to another around the table, though. They had happened so often that she would have had to be dead to miss them. Jinks would shoot a worried look at Claudia who would look at Leena who would then look and Pete and Pete would look at her, muscles in his face flexing like he was about to say something, but he never did. Then the process would repeat all over again ten minutes later. It was maddening.

But at the same time Myka didn’t have the presence of mind to say anything to stop the stares.  She didn’t know that she could string the words together that would stop them, she didn’t even know if she had the words period. Words required concentration. Words were Helena’s thing.

She sat on her bed. But today was over now. She didn’t have to find the words to stop the stares. She was alone now. Though she wasn’t sure that was preferable. At least surrounded by others she could let her mind focus on them instead of the morbid thoughts that tried to fill her mind. She hated not knowing. She knew almost every fact that could ever possibly be useful, to not know something was terrifying.

Her thoughts wandered to every single scenario that could have happened to Helena as she sat on the end of her bed. She cursed the fact that she had read so many books. Her brain had so many options to choose from, each one worse than the last. She felt like crying, tearing her hair out, anything to stop it, but she just sat there.

She couldn’t handle the thought of going to sleep. What if she went to sleep and Helena wasn’t there again? That would be confirmation that everything was wrong, that Helena might really not be there anymore. She didn’t want to face that possibility.

But at the same time if she went to sleep and Helena was there? That would be the best thing that had ever happened to Myka. God, she just couldn’t decide, so she sat there, still as a pond, letting her mind have its way with her.

Eventually she stood and got ready for bed just to have something to do with her hands, to distract her. It worked at least for a little while, but everything was back in full force when she laid down. Myka took a deep breath and buried her face in her pillow. It didn’t drown out the thoughts, but somehow the action brought a little comfort.

Helena was fine. She just had to keep telling herself that. She would go to sleep tonight and the other woman would be there waiting for her with a pot of tea and a bright smile and Myka would collapse into her arms and never let her go again.

She kept repeating that to herself over and over again as she finally collapsed into a restless sleep once more.

 

 


	42. Chapter 42

The three of them hurried out of the building and piled into the car. Jane wished them luck as the door closed behind them. Helena did not want to know what would happen to the woman when the Regents found out that one of their own had disobeyed one of their orders. Then again with the Ramati shackle on her wrist that might afford Jane some protection from their full wrath. Or at least Helena desperately hoped so. The woman had turned out to be quite the decent woman. She’d hate to see her punished for it.

Helena navigated down the side streets that Claudia had laid out at the beginning as their escape route. The streets were mostly empty and trash filled, which was fine as far as Helena was concerned. The faster they got to the library, the faster they could get out of D.C. and back to the B&B and their friends. Her eyes flicked to the rear view mirror making sure Jinks was alright. Except for still squinting slightly against the bright light he seemed to be fine.

She breathed out a small sigh. They had done it. They had brought him back. She was ever so thankful that it had worked out. If she couldn’t manage to bring back the Warehouse here at least she had done something good while she was here.

They made it to the Library of Congress with little fuss, even if it took a little longer than it would have on the main roads. Helena threw the car in park and turned to Claudia.

“The head librarian is supposed to meet us at ten?” she asked the red head.

She nodded. “Yup.”

Helena glanced down at the clock on the car’s dashboard. It read 9:30 in glowing green letters. It was quite a good thing that Claudia had scheduled the meeting well out from their break in for Jinks. Any closer and they would have gone over easily. But at the same time half an hour was a significant amount of time when one was trying to out run the Regents.

“Any chance that she’ll be willing to meet with us a little early?”

Claudia shrugged. “Dunno, we could try it.” She glanced back at Jinks. “Any chance that I grabbed the pants with your badge in them?”

Jinks checked his pockets. “Nope.”

“Worth a shot. A little badge flashing would’ve expedited things for sure. But as it is she knows we’re from the government. We could always pull the “we’re in a hurry and we need it now, sorry but that’s just how it works. Pretty sure the people there have heard that one enough to just go with it. After all, it is D.C.”

“It’s worth a shot.” She looked over Jinks and Claudia. They both looked exhausted and about ready to fall over if she made them get out of the car. “Both of you stay here, I’ll meet with the woman.”

“She’s expecting a red head and a black haired woman, not just you.”

“Well, I figure if the government excuse will work for one thing it will do quite well for the other, don’t you? Just give me the information, darling. I can be quite charming when I want. I’ll be in and out before you realize.”

Claudia sucked in her lip, debating the options. She started to dig in her bag a second later. It seemed that resting for even a few minutes had won out.

She handed Helena the information on the woman she was meeting. “Fine, but you have any sort of trouble just call me.”

She nodded. “Will do, darling. In the meantime why don’t you see if you can catch a cat nap?  It looks like you’re about to keel over.”

“Thanks, H.G. real confidence booster.”

She popped open the door. “I do try, darling.”

With that Helena shut the door and strode off towards the building in front of her.

Helena gasped when she walked into the building. Books. So many books. It looked as if she had walked into her own private version of heaven. Why hadn’t Myka ever mentioned that such a large library existed? Myka had even lived in D.C., surely she had been here. She would have to chide her later for keeping such a magnificent place a secret.

Helena shook herself and walked farther in, following the directions until she ended up in a back hallway that led into an office space. She walked up to what looked to be the secretary of the little office and smiled brightly.

“Hi, I’m here to meet with a Ms. Garber. Do you know where I could find her? The instructions I was given just led me back here.”

“Oh sure.” The woman pointed towards the back of the room. “Her office is back there, has her name on the door, you can’t miss it. I think she’s out right now, though, but I can call her and see if she can’t find her way back here.” She motioned at a group of chairs at one end of the room. “You can wait there if you’d like.”

“That will be wonderful. Thank you ever so much.” Helena smiled again, playing up her accent just a little bit and pouring on the charm. It was still amazing to her what Americans would do for a person with a posh English accent. Certainly came in handy.

Helena made her way over to the chairs and took a seat, crossing her legs primly and sitting up straight, still keeping her smile firmly in place. A few minutes later an older woman walked over to her.

“Agent Wells or Agent Donovan?”

“Agent Wells.” Helena stood from her seat. “H.G. Wells actually. Parents had a bit of a sense of humor, really.” Helena smiled. She was in a place full of books. If anyone besides Myka was going to appreciate the name it would be a librarian.

Sure enough the woman lit up. “Well, he’s quite the writer to be named after.”

Helena fought the urge to roll her eyes at the he in her statement. If only the woman knew she was standing before the hand that had actually written those novels all those years ago and that Charles was just the figurehead. Helena’s smile morphed into more of a smirk at the imagined images of the woman going a tad bit crazy.

“Indeed he is, I’ve always quite enjoyed science fiction.”

“Oh yes, _War of the Worlds_ has always been a favorite of mine.”

Helena’s smile turned more genuine again. That had been one of her favorite pieces to write after _The Time Machine_.

“Anyway, Agent Donovan said you needed one of the books in our collection?” She gestured for Helena to follow her and started to walk back down the hall that Helena had followed.

Helena nodded, catching up with the woman. “Indeed we do.”

“She forwarded what it would be used for, but I’m afraid so much of it was redacted I wasn’t quite able to figure it out.”

“Yes, well, it’s quite sensitive, but I assure you the book will be in capable hands, Ms. Garber.”

“What in the world could you use Morgan Le Fay’s spell book for that could be so classified?” She shook her head. “I know, classified of course, some of the books I understand why they’re taken, but this isn’t a book of little known facts about the inner workings of foreign governments.” She shrugged. “All knowledge has some use I suppose.”

“Indeed it does.”

The two fell silent as the woman led Helena through a maze of hallways and stacks of books. The place was even more extensive than it looked on first glance. Helena walked past more books than even she could read in a lifetime, she was sure, but oh how she wished she could try.

“Here we are,” the librarian announced, using her key card to unlock the door in front of her.

Helena followed her into a room filled with glass cases, the room dimly lit, the air drier than Helena had felt outside a desert. Many books were on display in the cases, carefully propped up on stands, open to beautifully illuminated drawings or passages of special importance. She was drawn immediately to a first edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. She’d had one of these once upon a time. She saw the scrawl of Stoker’s signature in the corner. Hers hadn’t been signed. Stoker had not been a fan of hers.

“Ah, that William McKinley’s personal copy of Dracula, first edition, Stoker even signed it to him.”

Of course he’d been a fan of the American president, but of course he just couldn’t like science fiction. It’s not like vampires were that far off from science fiction in the first place. Helena bit the inside of her lip.

“Hmm.” She moved back and looked around again. “I feel so very small in the presence of all this history.” Anyone who didn’t feel just a tiny bit small in the face of an illuminated manuscript from the middle ages were not Helena’s kind of people. The work and skill that had to go into such book in a time where hardly anyone read was amazing.

“I know. The feeling never really quite goes away, honestly, and I’ve been working here for almost twenty-five years.”

Helena turned back to the woman. “Being surrounded by books all day must be comforting.”

“It is. Helps to know that out in the stacks somewhere there’s a solution to any problem, if you can just find it.”

Helena nodded and looked around a little more. “And the solution to my problem?”

The woman snapped out of her book gazing. “Ah, yes.” She bustled over to a case on the other side of the room, pulling on a pair of gloves she pulled from her pocket. Mrs. Garber picked up the book carefully, shutting it gently. She bent down and rustled in a cabinet, pulling out a rather odd looking case and slipping the book inside its padded walls.

She walked over when she was done and handed the package to Helena. “That case will keep the book from the humidity in the air, I ask that you try to keep it in there as much as possible. And as soon as you’re done with it please return it to us. That case will do for now, but it’s better off in a room like this, you understand?” She gestured around the room.

“Of course. We wouldn’t want such a rare book to be damaged. I’ll take good care of it, I promise you. I’ve had quite a lot of experience taking care of old books and artifacts. It’s in good hands.”

The woman nodded. “I’m glad. I suppose I’ll lead you out then so you may start your work, whatever it may be.”

Helena smiled. “That would be wonderful.”

Mrs. Garber led her quickly through the stacks and Helena left her at the main circulation desk with a few more words and a kind goodbye. She gave the amazing library one last glance before she hurried out and walked to the car.

Claudia jumped as she opened the car door. “I’m awake! I swear! Leena don’t throw anymore pillows at me!”

Helena chuckled. “If you open your eyes, darling, I think it will be quite clear that I’m not Leena.”

Claudia’s eyes opened slowly, brown eyes still cloudy with exhaustion. “Oh, hey, H.G. It’d be cool if you didn’t pelt me with pillows either.”

Helena slid into the front seat of the car and strapped herself in. “Alas, darling, I find myself pillowless. It seems you’re safe for now.” She handed the girl the box with the book inside. “I’ve returned from my mission successfully.”

“I see that. You didn’t have any trouble?”

“No, the woman took to me easily enough, fellow bibliophiles have quite the sense of community I suppose.”

“Impressed by the library?”

Helena started the car. “Very.” She turned to the girl, flicking the blinker to indicate she was going to merge into traffic. “Do we have tickets to get us out of here?”

Claudia nodded. “I did that before I fell asleep. Jinks is good. We’re all good.” She glanced down at the car clock. “We fly out in like three and a half hours.”

“Splendid. Leaves us just enough time to get there, drop off the car, and clear security.”

“Yeah, thought that was best if we were cutting it kind of close since you wanted to get out of here ASAP.”

Helena glanced in the rear view mirror at a still slumbering Jinks. “Yes, it’s for the best.” She pulled out of the parking space and into traffic, rocketing off towards the airport and home.

 

They flew the whole way home without incident. Claudia and Jinks slept most of the way, Claudia curling subtly towards Jinks, almost as if she was checking to make sure he was still there in her sleep. Helena for her part was exhausted as well, she had been up for well over twenty-four hours, but she thought it was best to keep her guard up until they actually did manage to get home. They couldn’t outrun the Regents forever, but the advantage of home soil was not something she was willing to lose.

The three of them shuffled into the B&B sometime around two in the morning, all them wanting their beds. Helena wasn’t quite sure how the two of them could sleep anymore, but she suppose coming back from the dead had something to do with it. She nodded at them and ascended the stairs. She was sure the next morning would bring the Regents knocking on their door, but that could wait for now.

She climbed the stairs, entered her room and shucked her clothing quickly. Helena glanced at her dresser and the drawer with pjs in it, but shook her head. She didn’t have the energy. She just crawled into bed, relishing the feeling of the sheets against her skin and fell asleep almost instantly.

 


	43. Chapter 43

Myka sobbed once in relief when she opened her eyes and she was in the dream world. If she was here then that meant Helena had to be coming, didn’t it? She sat up and looked at what had come to be Helena’s side of the bed in this world. It was still made. Helena wasn’t here yet.

But that didn’t stop Myka from getting up and wandering around the dream B&B checking every room just to make sure that Helena wasn’t anywhere to be found just in case. She didn’t want to miss her, she couldn’t miss her. When her search was done she returned to their room.

Helena was there, in the middle of their bed, sleeping soundly. Myka collapsed against the doorframe. She thanked every god and goddess she could name. Helena was here. Right in front of her. And she looked like she was unhurt. Myka blinked and looked up at the ceiling. She wasn’t sure that she’d ever felt a sense of relief as strong as she did in that instant.

She walked forward and made it to the edge of the bed. Her hand reached out and tucked a piece of black, silky hair behind Helena’s ear. The warmth her skin radiated let her know that Helena was real. That she was actually below her fingers, that this wasn’t just a dream. The last of the tension leaked out of her body.

Myka fell into bed, inching under the covers and wrapping herself around Helena. She locked her arms tight around the other woman’s middle. She wasn’t going to let go of her again.

At least until the dream made her let go. But that was a while from then. She would deal with it when the time came.

It took a long while for Helena to stir. The other woman shifted farther back into Myka, grumbling nonsensically. Myka smiled softly and tucked her head farther into the crook of Helena’s neck. Helena let out a sigh.

“It’s entirely too early for this, darling,” Helena mumbled sleepily.

“You’ve been here and asleep for quite a while already,” Myka replied, whispering against Helena’s skin, the sweet taste of her coating her tongue when Myka licked her lips.

“Everything is too early when you’ve been up close to two days straight.”

Everything fell into place for Myka. That’s why Helena hadn’t been here. But then if she wasn’t asleep why hadn’t Myka just gone to her like she had at the beginning of this?

“I was worried, Helena.” Myka’s voice broke slightly in the middle of her sentence.

Helena flipped over in Myka’s arms and her brown eyes roved over Myka’s face. “When I didn’t show up last night you feared the worst.”

It wasn’t a question but Myka nodded anyway.

“Oh, darling, no, everything was fine. Claudia and I had to fly out to D.C. to retrieve the spell book and revive Jinks. I was up all night planning how to break in to a rather secure government building.”

“But then why didn’t I go to you? I’ve shown up in your waking hours before.”

“I don’t know, darling.” She caressed Myka’s face gently, thumb tracing the outline of the younger woman’s lips. Helena’s eyebrows scrunched for a minute, deep in thought. “Maybe because it would have been a distraction. I hate that you were worried about me, darling, but having you in my head while trying to negotiate a strange building and Mrs. Lattimer might have been difficult at best.”

Myka sucked in a breath. “Maybe.” She leaned into Helena’s hand. “Artie had something of a theory about the time I ended up dropping in on you while you were driving right at the beginning. He said it might have been possible because of the increased emotions we both had, that it would’ve taken less energy to connect us between worlds and would’ve been easier. But I’m not exactly sure how that would apply since the laws of science here are being stretched to their limits just to explain how we ended up being sent to two separate universes by a pen.”

Helena snorted. “The Warehouse and science never have gone together well. Perhaps one day they will, but science is far behind whatever goes on at our workplace.”

“Yeah.” Myka tightened her arms, drawing Helena closer to her once again. Helena tucked her head in the crook of Myka’s neck and Myka buried her nose in dark hair, breathing deeply.

“So did you guys get Jinks?” Myka asked after a few long moments.

“We did, but the Regents are probably hot on our trails. I expect they’ll show up tomorrow and read us the riot act.”

“You could always just send them back to Jinks’s hometown, don’t have them fly, but drive, and they could be back again with Jinks unattached to the metronome before the Regents even thought to look for them there. I’m sure Claudia could short out any cameras on the way to make it hard to track them.”

Helena pursed her lips, soft skin brushing over Myka’s collarbone. “Perhaps, though that might get them in more trouble at the end. The Regents don’t like being defied once, let alone twice.”

“What could they really do? They couldn’t threaten to take Jinks off the metronome if he wasn’t on it anymore. They could throw a fit that Claudia disobeyed orders and hacked into their database, but that doesn’t end in a possible death without the possibility of resurrection.”

“You have a point. I’ll send them out tomorrow provided the Regents aren’t here when I wake up.” Helena pulled back from Myka, eyes filled with mirth and a tad bit of annoyance. “Someone forgot to tell that Washington D.C. has one of the most magnificent libraries in the world. Myka I’ve never _seen_ so many books before in one place. It was wonderful.”

Myka’s brow scrunched. “Why were you at the Library of Congress?”

“That’s where the spell book was in this universe.”

“Oh. Well. At least you got to see it. It really is a special place. They literally have millions of books and magazines.” Myka’s eyes lit up.

“Millions, darling? My god. You’re taking us there on vacation as soon as we manage to get home. And the Smithsonian. All of them.” Helena stuck her lip in a fake pout. “You owe me for keeping knowledge of such a library from me.”

Myka smiled. “That sounds good to me. I can think of a few other places to show you, too.”

Helena snuggled up to Myka once again. “Good, being shown a city by someone who actually lived there is always so much better.” She laid a kiss on Myka’s shoulder. “And all the more incentive for us to get back home.”

“Yeah.” Myka paused a minute. “Did your search engine turn up any other files besides the spell book?”

“I didn’t check before I went to bed. I was starting to see shapes. I wasn’t exactly in any sort of state to try to operate a computer.”

Myka sighed.

“But my Artie is working on it, seeing if there’s some way we can use both the pen and the spell book together.”

Myka was the one to pull back this time so she could see Helena’s eyes. “You took the idea to him? I thought you hated it?”

“I do, darling, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to dismiss a potential option without even partial consideration. All options need to be on the table no matter how unsavory I find them.”

The corners of Myka’s mouth turned up. “Ok. We haven’t gotten much of anywhere either, but then again I’m not sure I would know if it happened today. I was a little out of it worrying over you.”

Helena’s hand came up to caress her cheek. “I really am sorry I caused you to worry.”

Myka grabbed Helena’s hand and kissed her palm. “I suppose I should get used to it. We work for the Warehouse after all, worrying comes with the territory.”

“True as that may, at least there is closure. If something happened to me here, you wouldn’t get that. It makes a difference.”

“Yeah, I guess it does.” Myka chuckled softly. “I was going to take the pen and search every single universe until I found you again.”

“More than a little foolish darling.”

“Trust me I can see that now, but all I could think about was saving you. Logic really didn’t matter.”

“How would you even know when you found me? There are other universes where I’m still alive, I’m sure.”

Myka looked deeply into Helena’s eyes. “I would know. Everything here is _almost_ the same, but not quite. The differences might be tiny, but I would know.”

Helena leaned forward and kissed Myka gently. She pulled back a minute later, warm smile on her face. “Yes, I suppose you of all people would.”

“You’d be able to do the same with me.”

“Of that I have no doubt.”

They laid together after that in relative silence, only the sound of their breaths breaking the stillness. Myka let her eyes drift closed, basking in the warmth that surrounded her. Helena was ok, and while they weren’t much past where they had been two days before they had at least made a few steps. And that was worth something.

“I wonder how much time has passed in our universe,” Myka finally wondered out loud sometime later.

“I have no idea, darling. Our universes operate on much the same time frame, but who knows about home. I think the least strange thing about this whole venture would be coming home and finding that a day has past instead of a few weeks.”

Myka snorted. “Yeah, I guess.”

“I suppose we’ll find out soon. I have a feeling we’re nearing the end, darling.”

“You do?”

“I do. And if I’ve learned anything from this little trip it’s that I should listen to the random feelings I get. I suppose I finally truly understand what Pete means about vibes now. I wonder if it’s just being in this universe that’s brought them on, or some odd Warehouse hocus pocus at work once again, but the feelings I get haven’t been wrong about the major things yet.”

“We’ll be home soon.”

“We will.”

Myka leaned forward and kissed Helena hard. “Good,” she said, pulling back, panting just a little bit. “Because these dreams and these kisses aren’t enough. I need you.”

Helena’s eyes darkened just the tiniest bit. “My sentiments exactly.”

Their mouths sealed together again, but before it could get anywhere near too heated the dream started to fade once again.

 

Myka blinked awake. She wasn’t quite sure if she was grateful for the dream ending there or angry. She supposed it was better than the time it had ended right in the middle of things, so that was something at least. She sat up and ran her hands over her face. Even if it had ended early the beginnings of arousal were flowing through her body. She needed a cold shower before anything else could go on. She got up and headed for the shower.

The cold water cleared her head and helped her think straight once more. She sighed heavily when she realized that she would have to tell Artie that he had been right about at least some of it, if not all of it. She was so not looking forward to his smug face when she did. The Artie here was much the same as her Artie, but he was just different enough personality-wise to annoy her on a whole new level.

She dried her hair on her towel, combing her fingers through her curls to prevent her hair from clumping together into one big giant curl and walked out of the bathroom. Oh how she wished not for the first time that she didn’t have to go downstairs and face the music, but there was still work to do. Helena’s search program might have gotten through all the files by now, but until she knew for sure she was still going to keep going through every last one of them just in case.

As she tossed her towel in the hamper in her room her eyes fell on the file for the spell book. The spell book option did not make her happy in the slightest, either, but she supposed that she should talk to Artie about going to get it from the private collector who had it. If Helena’s Artie somehow came through and found a way to use the pen and spell book together safely it would be better if they had it on hand.

Myka walked down stairs to see the rest of the group set to work already. Even Artie sat in his normal chair plugging away at the files. She sighed and walked over to her chair, pulling over the stack set aside for her and setting to work.

Myka never thought it was possible, but she was starting to miss inventory. At least that involved some sort of movement while being boring and tedious. Reading files, as much as she loved reading, wasn’t exactly the best thing ever to happen.

She had read through a few files before Artie finally spoke up. “So you seem a lot calmer today.”

Myka had known it was coming, but a shot of disappointment still coursed through her at the words. She would have been perfectly happy just sitting here silently doing her job.

“Yeah, I saw Helena last night. She was fine. She just had to stay up all night because she was planning a particularly difficult mission.”

The corners of Artie’s mouth turned up into a smirk. “Well, that’s not my preferred outcome, but still. I told you it was unreasonable to panic after only one day.”

“You’d have panicked if it was McPherson,” Myka mumbled under her breath.

Artie shot her a dark look, but didn’t call her out. “Anyway, I’m glad everything is fine and you didn’t do anything stupid.”

Myka fought the urge to roll her eyes and went back to reading her files.

At lunch she went back to her and grabbed the spell book’s file. Even with Artie’s newly self-satisfied attitude the solidness of someone going to get the spell book just in case still stood. The loss of her bargaining tool wasn’t so great now that she had revealed its existence the day before in her desperation to make sure Helena was ok. In the last two days Artie had warmed somewhat, anyway. He was by no means friendly, but it was a vast improvement. It was strange that Leena had ended up sort of right about her having the right words to make him snap out of it. Then again, not really. The woman could see auras after all, who knew what else she could really do.

Myka returned downstairs and plopped the file in front of Artie. He looked up at her, furry eyebrow cocked, before starting to read while stuffing half a sandwich in his mouth. Myka sat down at her own chair and nibbled on the vegetables and hummus she’d grabbed out of the fridge for herself, awaiting his verdict.

“So you weren’t lying about having a way to save the Warehouse yesterday.” Artie brushed the crumbs off his shirt.

“Why would I lie?”

“Because you were desperate to get what you wanted.”

“No, in this case I was wholly serious. Saving Helena would have been too important to try and risk in some harebrained scheme like that.”

Artie nodded. “There are some heavy consequences to this artifact.”

“I know. Helena found it in the other universe days ago. We’ve been trying to figure out ways around it ever since. Apparently her Artie is seeing if the pen and spell book could work together and you wouldn’t lose anyone who actually belongs here anyway.”

Artie hummed under his breath. “It’s risky, but it has some merits.”

“Yeah. Should we send someone to get it just in case we can’t find anything else?”

Artie sat in thought for a minute. “I suppose. Jinks and Claudia could go. Simple easy mission that could show the Regents that both of them are up to speed once more now that Jinks is off the metronome. The owner isn’t going to be happy, but Steve’s ATF badge could silence that quickly enough.”

Myka nodded. Badges did tend to get people off of their case quite efficiently.

Claudia popped her head around the corner. “Did I hear someone say the word mission? Because let me tell you I’m totally up for that, actual paper files are _so_ not my thing.”

“Claud, you’ve been here the least out of all of us,” Pete said, managing to detach himself from his plate of food enough to speak.

“Yeah, well, you rescue your best friend with an artifact and then you get to go on special field trips too.”

“How about nobody does anything unauthorized with an artifact anymore?” Artie interjected as Pete opened him mouth to respond. “I’m still getting flack about that.”

“Sorry, oh great grump, but you know saving Jinks is worth a little chewing out.”

“Little?” Artie scoffed. “I’ll let you listen in on one of those phone calls and then we’ll see if you think it’s little.”

“Whatever, old man, just proves you can dish it but can’t take it.”

Artie rolled his eyes. “Pack your bags, tell Steve to do the same.” He held out the file. “Go get the artifact from the collector. Come straight back, no funny business. Simple enough.”

Claudia took the file. “Nothing simple about Warehouse missions, after all this,” she gestured at the table of files. “not exactly sure I wouldn’t mind a little trouble.” She walked out of the room.

“Teenagers, all of them have the attention spans of fruit flies,” Artie grumbled and set back to work.

Myka rolled her eyes and finished her lunch in relative silence.

 


	44. Chapter 44

Helena sat up as soon as her eyes were open. It was midmorning judging by the light that was coursing through her window. The B&B was silent though. The Regents didn’t seem to be here quite yet. She threw off the covers and padded down the hall to Claudia’s room. She knocked for a minute and stepped back.

A tousled Claudia appeared in the door a minute later. “What’s up H.G.?” She yawned so wide her jaw cracked. “I was kinda looking forward to sleeping past noon.”

Helena shook her head. “Afraid that’s not in the cards for you, darling. You and Jinks need to go.”

“Go? Go where? I thought the whole point of coming back here was so that we could be on home base when the Regents showed.”

“It was, but I’ve had a better idea since then.”

Claudia cocked her eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Take Jinks and the metronome and go back to his hometown. He’s not going to like it, but he has to perform an act of selfless love and then he won’t be dependent on the metronome to keep his heart beating anymore. If he’s not under the control of an artifact then the Regents won’t have the option of stopping his heart because they view it as too dangerous to have an agent under the influence of said artifact. We’ll all still be in trouble, but at least death won’t be a possibility.”

“Ok. Right.” Claudia nodded and yawned again. “I’ll go get Jinksy and we’ll get gone ASAP.”

“Good. Make sure you’re undetected. I don’t want you to be interrupted in the middle of everything. You know how to control the traffic cameras around where you are so they can’t track you like that?”

Claudia nodded. “No problem. Compared to hacking that firewall it’s nothing.”

“Great. Hurry then, I’d say they aren’t far out.”

“’kay.”

Helena stepped back and Claudia nudged past her and walked down the hall to Jinks room and started pounding on the door. Helena retreated back to her own room to get changed for the day. She heard the other two shuffling around outside as she got ready. By the time she remerged from her room they were standing on the stairs double checking they had what they needed.

“You’re clear on what you need to do?”

Claudia nodded. “Act of selfless love, got it.”

Jinks scowled. “I don’t see what that has to do with going back to my hometown.”

“Just trust me Agent Jinks, I know what I’m talking about. The Jinks in my home universe wasn’t exactly fond of the plan either, but it served its purpose. Your hometown contains your mother, and who else should you love more than your mother? If any place on earth contains the person you’ll perform an act of selfless love for it’s your hometown.”

Jinks crossed his arms over his chest but nodded. “Fine.”

Claudia picked up her bag off the floor, zipping it up. “Everything’s good. Let’s go Jinksy.”

The two of them pounded down the stairs.

“Be safe,” Helena called after them.

The door shut behind them a second later. Helena sighed and descended the stairs as well. Leena was in the kitchen looking at the front door with a crease between her eyebrows.

“Time was of the essence, darling. They have to outrun the Regents. And last night I know she didn’t want to disturb you.”

Leena leveled a look at Helena. “A goodbye doesn’t take much time.”

“When it could be life and death it’s better to not risk it.”

Leena huffed out a breath. “You have a point.”

Helena smirked. “You can always make her pay for it in far more pleasant ways when she gets back.”

A light blush graced Leena’s cheeks as she turned to scrub a piece of already immaculate counter. Helena chuckled softly but pushed no further. She grabbed an apple and bit into it, sitting back and waiting for the Regents to appear at any moment.

 

They came an hour later. Helena had wished there was a little more of a head start between Claudia and Jinks and their pursuers, but an hour was better than the few minutes she feared they would have at the beginning of the wait. Helena swiveled around to face the front door just as it opened. She put on a faint smirk and crossed her legs.

Kosan walked through the door after his bodyguard had declared the B&B secure. His eyes zeroed in immediately on Helena in the kitchen. He strode over to her all storm and bluster. Helena didn’t even blink.

“Good morning, Mr. Kosan. How are you this fine morning?”

“I would be quite a lot better if I hadn’t had to fly around the world to get here after hearing of your latest transgression. You are still on very thin ice, why exactly jeopardize it now?” His accent played with the words, making them seem even fiercer than they already were.

“I think you forget that I’m not this world’s Helena. I’m sure you already know of that, Mr. Kosan, you seem to know everything else that goes on in the Warehouse. You see, where I come from I’m not on such thin ice anymore, saving the Warehouse gains quite a bit of trust. And as I see it so should saving someone’s life.”

“You went against explicit orders to leave Agent Jinks dead.”

“I never heard such orders. They were never issued to me.”

“That is a technicality and you know it.” The man leaned forwards slightly trying to intimidate her. Helena just looked up at him, smiling.

“Quite, but as far as my understanding of the law extends it lives on such technicalities.”

“Be that as it may, you were aiding Claudia who did have those explicit orders.”

“Oh, she had those orders, did she? I was unaware.”

“You know that lying here will get you nowhere.”

“I’ve always found that lying in the right circumstances will get me everywhere.”

The man practically growled at her.

“Sir,” one of the guards spoke up.

Kosan turned to face him. “What?”

“They aren’t here. We checked every room.”

Kosan turned back to her. “Where have they gone?”

“I wasn’t aware they went anywhere. I thought they were still asleep.” Helena looked the man dead in the eyes and dared him to say she was bluffing.

“Lies. Agent Jinks is under the influence of an artifact. He needs to be monitored. You will tell me where they went.”

“You see, Mr. Kosan, I have this thing about authority.” Helena got up off her stool and circled the kitchen island slowly. She looked up at Kosan as she rounded the other side. “I tend not to obey it. In fact,” she traced the edge of a cutting board. “I tend to do quite the opposite of what they tell me to do.”

“You’re jeopardizing your status as a Warehouse agent and your own freedom by not telling me the truth Ms. Wells.”

Helena smirked. “You see, that’s not inherently true. Because I’m not the H.G. Wells that belongs here. You really don’t have much hold over me. Take away my job, I have one waiting for me at home. Try to arrest me, I’ll be gone before you can blink.” She walked over to Kosan, standing nose to nose with him. “So, I’m quite comfortable standing here saying that I have no clue where they are right now. It’s quite worth Agent Jinks’s continued survival. Because we both know that you will advocate heartily for the metronome to be stopped and for Jinks to die again, and you know, I just refuse to allow that.”

The man took a deep breath and stepped back from Helena. “Send search teams out. They can’t have gotten that far. Look for Claudia’s hacker signature. Anything that will locate where they are and where they’re heading.”

Kosan glanced back and Helena. “And when we do find them, Ms. Wells, know that you will be in quite a bit more trouble than you would have previously.”

“I’m quaking in boots, darling.” Helena shot him a bright smile.

Kosan’s upper lip curled and he turned on his heel and left, his guards following him out. The door slammed shut behind them.  

Helena slumped down on the stool again. She let out a slow breath. That had bought them another ten minutes. She hoped Claudia wasn’t only hacking the cameras on the route they were taking. That would be a dead giveaway. But she had faith in the girl. She was smart. Claudia would think ahead.

“Well, I can image that could have gone better,” Leena said walking up to the counter once again.

Helena snorted. “Really, darling, could it? Mr. Kosan and I never do quite see eye to eye when we come across each other. Most of our meetings end in some sort of verbal altercation. That one might have been a little more…intense than normal, but quite a lot was at stake in that particular conversation.”

“But he could take all of the anger he feels at you out on the other H.G., the one that belongs here.”

Helena shook her head. “He wouldn’t dare. He’s one of the most unreasonable Regents. None of the others would see my sins as something that the other Helena should deal with. Jane Lattimer might be in quite a bit of trouble because of this stunt, but I wouldn’t quite count her out in defending my alternate personality.” She paused for a minute. “That is, if my alternate personality even makes it back here after I leave. Myka and I aren’t exactly sure if we’ll be leaving a void in our wake or not.”

Leena regarded her seriously. “The last thing we need is to lose another team member.”

“So Myka and I have said to one another in the dreams we share, but there really isn’t much we can do if the pen doesn’t return them.”

“That’s not what I meant, or not wholly. The spell book and the pen, you’re thinking of combining them? That would leave a gap almost assuredly.”

“It’s being considered as an option. Artie is working on it. It’s better than someone with a chance of coming back be sacrificed than someone who’s already here, though, don’t you think?”

“I suppose, but it doesn’t sit well with me. Something about it…” Leena trailed off and scrunched her brow. “disturbs the universe.”

“Be that as it may, if it’s that or send Claudia instead, we know which is the better option.”

“On one hand I agree. On the other…I worry. This world has already seen its fair share of disturbance.”

“So it has. So they all have.”

Leena stared at her a minute more before flicking her eyes away. “I’ll have breakfast ready soon. Well, brunch at this point, but no one seemed to want to get out of bed this morning.”

Helena nodded. “Righty-ho then. I’ll be in the library if you need me.”

Leena hummed indicating she heard and set to work preparing food.

Helena walked into the library and brought up the computer Claudia had left to run the search while they were gone. The screen lit up slowly coming out of sleep mode. Helena quickly typed in the password and the main screen popped up. She clicked on the search window and scanned the screen.

She almost cursed when the words managed to reach her brain. The search was done. No other results had popped up. Her feeling had been right. They were stuck with the spell book.

A number in the corner of the screen led her to a few files that partially matched the parameters Claudia set were flagged. Helena’s hope flared a tiny bit. Maybe there was something in the few files here that could help them instead, or perhaps maybe they could find something that could be combined together to get the desired result. But her hope waned as she started to go through the files in earnest. Claudia had set the search parameters well it seemed and anything that didn’t wholly fit really had no business being considered. They had no need for a carpet that teleported objects from one point to another. Or a ring that pointed you to a lost object. Or worse yet a doll that told you what you were missing in quite the creepy voice.

Helena sighed and slumped against the keyboard. Now they were stuck with the spell book and all the problems that it brought with it for sure. If the pen didn’t work with the spell book how would they ever justify that? Would they justify that? Would they just let the Warehouse die and rebuild? She ran her fingers through her hair and sat up slowly.

Until the pen fell through as an option to help she wouldn’t worry about it. If the pen, and by extension herself, could help then there were still options. She would hold out hope for that there was no point to getting down just yet.

She walked back to the kitchen following the smell of food. Pete was already sitting down scarfing a stack of pancakes the size of his head. Helena sat down in her own chair, curling her legs under her and played with the small stack of pancakes that had been set there already. She wasn’t quite so hungry anymore. Today had not been long for the world yet it was already quite exhausting with the ups and downs. She wondered if it was a bad idea to go take a nap when it wasn’t even quite noon yet.

Artie shuffled in the room, grabbed his coffee and sat down. He looked up at Helena and cocked an even more unruly than normal eyebrow at her. “Would you like to explain why I was just accosted by literally every single Regent there is before I set foot out of bed?”

“Hmm, I really would have thought they would have called you sooner,” Helena replied, voice distant.

“No, they didn’t. Why would they have called me earlier?”

“You mean they yelled at you, all of them, but not a single one told you what was the matter?” Helena snorted lightly. “Typical.”

“Most I got out of any phone call was that I was to fix the problem immediately and get my agents under control again.”

 “Bureaucracy at its finest.”

“So what did you do?”

“Broke into a government building, stole the metronome, and brought Jinks back to life.” Helena looked over at Artie with a completely straight face.

Artie blinked for a few seconds. “What?” he finally asked after his mouth stopped flapping.

“You heard right Artie. Nothing is wrong with your hearing quite yet.”

“Do I even need to go into the rant about how I specifically forbid Claudia from doing _exactly_ what you just said?”

“I don’t think we’d be sitting her discussing it if it was really needed. But you probably are going to get a call from Kosan about me. Tell him I send my regards.” Helena smirked.

“Do I even want to know?”

“He showed up here. I may have frustrated him enough that he left.”

Artie sighed. “I’ll deal with it. Where are Claudia and Steve anyway?”

“Somewhere that isn’t here. It’s better for them that way. I sent them off hours ago.”

“They were here?”

“This morning, you didn’t hear them moving around?”

Artie shook his head.

“My, my Artie you were quite out of it.”

Artie glared at her. “I was up late doing research on the pen and spell book. It seemed like it was worth sacrificing some sleep.”

“You have a point.” Helena inclined her head.

“I may have found something last night, too.”

Helena immediately perked up and sat forward. “You did? What did you find?”

“I think that the pen and spell book can be used together. Their make ups and abilities don’t cancel each other out, if anything they might intensify each other slightly. After all, they are book and pen and both of them are essentially manipulating the universe around them. How to combine them exactly I’m not sure, though. I’m not sure if someone should slip you the pen right as the spell book is being used, whether whoever is using the spell book should have the pen instead, or whether someone should hand you the pen as you’re disappearing. As it seems the disappearance isn’t all at once. You sort of just…fade away. Something about making sure the user really is committed to the sacrifice they’re making.” Artie shrugged. “Before the person completely fades out the process can be stopped at any time and the person can come back, but once it’s done it’s done.”

“What does that mean for the other Helena?”

“I have no idea. It could really go either way at this point. Intent could really be everything or it could really just be a sacrifice that’s needed to power the artifact.”

“So it’s not ideal, but at least it’s an option that’s not going to blow us sky high.”

Artie nodded. “If anything, I’d bet on handing you the pen right before you disappear. It works on touch so it makes the least sense to have the person with the spell book have it. And as for handing it to you at the very beginning…I think that would almost be like backing out in the middle of the process.”

Helena took a deep breath. “Ok.” She nodded. “Ok.”

“Ok?”

“It’s the only way we have. More research isn’t going to clear up those uncertainties. It’s not like someone else has combined these two artifacts before. That’s as certain as we are going to get. There’s nothing else that can help us. Claudia’s program ran through all the files we have. There’s nothing else. It’s the spell book or nothing. And the only way the spell book is worth it is if we use the pen. I have to go home anyway, might as well make it mean something.”

“H.G…” Leena trailed off, staring at her from across the counter.

“You’ve already made it mean something. You’ve helped us in one of our darkest times and helped to save Steve even if you were expressly forbidden to do so. That means something.” Artie looked uncomfortable giving such out and out praise. He rubbed her hand through his hair and cleared his throat. “You don’t have to risk anything more for us. You should go home safe and sound if that’s what you want.”

Helena swallowed. “I’ll talk to Myka once more, but this is what we agreed on, that we would save the Warehouse before we went home and I plan to do it.”

“The Warehouse can be rebuilt.”

“But this universe’s Myka can’t. The Warehouse here comes back so does she. And if there’s anyone I would do anything for it would be her. Even if I’ll never meet this version of her, it doesn’t matter. Every world is better off with her in it. And you all are my family, you deserve your home once more.”

Artie nodded. “If that’s how you feel, talk to Myka, make sure your plans are still the same. The Warehouse has been gone a while now, a few more hours won’t hurt.”

Helena slipped off of her stool. “Ok.” She started to walk out of the room. “I’m going to go…” she trailed off. She didn’t know, but she needed room to breathe and think. The others waved her off and Helena slipped gratefully off. She clenched her fist. After all of this it was happening, she was saving the Warehouse. Or she thought she was, anyway. And after all of this she was going to be home within the next day. Or she thought she was, anyway.

She took a deep breath. It was going to be a long day.

 

 


	45. Chapter 45

Myka searched through the files once more after lunch, to no results. The day crawled by as every day before had while reading files. She wished she was the one who had shot off after lunch to go get the artifact, at least it was something to do, but she wanted to be the one here searching the files at the same time. With her wide breadth of knowledge she might see something that the others wouldn’t.

So she sat and read with only a little regret. She closed another file and pushed it away. The longer she searched the longer she believed that Helena was really right and there wasn’t another solution, that the spell book was it. It was demotivating, but she picked up another file and read it anyway.

And so she continued long into the night, Pete and Artie keeping her company silently as they had most of the week. When they finally, finally hit the end of the stack just past midnight Myka was simultaneously relieved and disappointed. They hadn’t found anything more. They really were stuck with the spell book.

She glanced up at Artie as she stuffed the files back into their box and carried it over to the pile of other boxes. He was still sitting in his chair, staring at the table, thinking deeply. Now it was a debate on ethics instead of a search, a weighing of pros and cons. And it all fell on the older man’s shoulders. A slight zing of fear swept through Myka at the thought. That could end very badly for her. But at the same time she thought that even with all his faults Artie wouldn’t do that to her. He was still a decent man even if he didn’t always make the right decisions.

Myka sighed and walked out of the room, squeezing Artie’s shoulder once as she passed by. She made her way up to her room and readied for bed slowly. This meant that she would be home soon. Hopefully, anyway, but she couldn’t see Helena forcing the issue when there was literally nothing more they could do. They couldn’t wait for an artifact they didn’t know about to avail itself to them. That could take years if it ever happened at all. No, the only debate left was to use the pen and spell book together or not.

She swallowed. There were so many risks after how far they’d come. The people in this B&B were as much her family as everyone back home, but still she was feeling just the slightest bit selfish. Should she risk her safety and Helena’s just for these people? It wasn’t her fault that the Warehouse here had blown up and hadn’t in her own universe.

No. It wasn’t her fault, but that didn’t mean that she could justify her actions through that line of reasoning. She had helped these people, saved Jinks and Claudia from the metronome. If she chose not to try combining the pen and spell book then that was her choice because it wasn’t worth the risks. That was the end of it. There was no other justification.

Myka pulled back her covers. Except that since these people were her family…a simple no I won’t do it wouldn’t be reason enough for her to say no and she knew it. There had to be a reason. A good reason at that.

She laid back and sighed. It seemed all she did anymore was sigh. Myka closed her eyes. It would be over in one way or another soon.

She fell asleep with her thoughts going in circles what seemed like a long time later.

 

Helena was waiting for her this time. It seemed like forever since Helena had been here before her. Myka smiled sleepily at the dark brown eyes open before her.

“Hi,” she said, voice raspy.

“Good morning, darling. I’m glad you’re here. I’ve been here for quite some time.”

“Now you know what I’ve been feeling like waiting for you on all those nights you had insomnia.”

A small smile curled on Helena’s lips. “I suppose I do. I don’t know how you stood it, darling, just waiting for me here.”

“I managed.” Myka leaned forward and captured Helena’s lips in a gentle kiss.

Helena pulled back a minute later. “I have some news, darling. I’m not exactly sure if it qualifies as good or bad.”

“You didn’t find anything other than the spell book to bring back the Warehouse?”

Helena nodded. “No, we didn’t. However, Artie is fairly certain that the pen and book can be combined without catastrophic repercussions. Nothing is going to blow up if they are combined…however that doesn’t guarantee that they will actually work together. It just means we aren’t risking anyone else’s safety in the process. Artie’s come up with a plan that he thinks will have the highest likelihood of success, but it’s all just speculation.”

“Of course, it’s not like there are files on this that we can just go read.”

“Exactly.” Helena bit her lip. “I already agreed to do it, despite the risks.”

Myka had known it was coming. Helena was the effortlessly noble one. Always had been, even if she didn’t quite see it herself.

“Ok.”

“Ok?” Helena cocked an eyebrow.

“Ok, we’ll do it. I was thinking before bed about what to do. We didn’t find anything else besides the spell book either, going through all those files, and ever since we stopped I’ve been thinking. And I’ve thought about just grabbing the pen and leaving, but I really don’t think I can.”

“Neither can I. Artie doesn’t want this to go on, I don’t think, and wouldn’t if I hadn’t told him that I would. I’m not even sure if he’ll let it even with me as the sacrificial lamb. I have to give these people what they deserve. I have to rescue you in this universe if I can. I may not be able too. But I have to try.”

Myka caressed Helena’s face. “We will. And we’ll be fine and home before you know it. Where do you think we’ll wake up at home?”

“I have no idea, darling. Maybe on that silly, stupid park bench outside the physics lecture hall at Stanford.”

“How full circle.”

“I agree, it has a sort of poetry to it.”

“You know what I never understood about this whole thing?” Myka asked.

“No, what?”

“We essentially went back in time as well as crossing universes. It’s been months since the Warehouse almost blew up at home. I wonder why we went back.”

“Maybe these universes timelines move more slowly.” Helena shrugged. She had no idea of the science or reasons they ended up where they did.

“And the dreams…how were they even possible?”

Helena cupped Myka’s cheek. “I think there will be more than a few questions that can’t be answered about this little excursion. But as long as we get back home, the answers don’t quite matter. We do work at the Warehouse, darling. That might be the reason in and of itself.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Myka sighed, disappointed. “But that’s not a satisfying answer.”

“I know. But it’s what we’ll have to live with. At least until I get caught up on all the new advances in physics. Then I might be able to come with a better answer.”

“We’re going to be going to the library a lot, aren’t we?” Myka smiled fondly.

“I find that the internet works just as well, darling, but I’ll never say no to a trip to the library.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“Besides, someone promised me to take me to the Library of Congress when we get home. I’m sure I’ll be able to find quite a bit of information there.”

“I’m sure.” She nuzzled into Helena’s neck. “But first we have to get home. And I need the spell book. Claudia and Jinks went off earlier today to get it. They should be back soon. The collector who had it lived in Montana, so he was pretty close.”

“So tomorrow then?”

“Should be.”

“Then we go home tomorrow. If I get there first I’ll wait for you. That is if we appear in the same place. God even knows if we will. The pen did manage to send us to different universes. I can’t imagine sending one of us to Costa Rica and the other to Siberia to be such a farfetched idea.”

“Can I be the one who ends up in Costa Rica? South Dakota’s cold enough for me.” Myka’s face scrunched slightly. Colorado cold was fine, but any more than that and Myka couldn’t ever manage to get warm.

“If I have conscious control I’ll make sure to choose the cold place so you can have the warm place.” Helena’s voice was laced with mirth.

Myka stuck out her tongue.

Helena sobered a minute later. “But you will have your cell phone on you, won’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Good. If we don’t end up the same place I want a way to reach you.”

“Will we even come through at the same time?”

“I have no idea, darling. I really don’t. I imagine if we don’t I’ll be going out of my mind until you appear.”

Myka gripped Helena a little tighter. “Same for me.”

Helena’s hand ran through her curls. “It’s going to be alright, darling.”

“I hope so. I really do.”

“We’ve come through worse scrapes than this. Warehouse 2 was much worse than this.” Helena untangled a knot in Myka’s hair gently, with deft fingers.

“You also telsa’d me in Warehouse 2.” Myka looked at the other woman, eyebrow cocked but with laughter in her eyes.

“So not the best example, but I meant the booby traps before the tesla-ing.”

“I’m well aware. Though at this point I might take you tesla-ing me over being stuck in another universe with a dicey way to get back.”

“I don’t know how I feel about being hell bent on destroying the world again, but then again as long as you were in the same world as me, it would be better than it is now.” Helena sighed.

“Well, we just have to get back to the same universe then, just in case, don’t we?”

“That we do.” Helena laid a kiss on Myka’s forehead.

The dream started to fade around them. “I’ll see you tomorrow, darling. And then it won’t just be a dream when I do this.” Helena leaned down and kissed Myka hard.

Myka grabbed Helena’s shirt and pulled her towards her while she still could. She kissed back with a passion she didn’t even know was possible. But if this was the last time she was going to kiss Helena she was going to make it count. She poured all of the love she felt for the woman into the kiss until finally her lips started to fade once more and Myka was left in the blackness by herself.

 


	46. Chapter 46

Helena opened her eyes and took a deep breath. Today was the day. She was going to go home.

Or she was going to fade away into nothingness? Would she be dead if that happened? Would she move onto to the afterlife, if there even was one, or would she just truly cease to exist?

She shook her head. She couldn’t think like that. She would get through this. Myka would get through this. And she would wake up in Siberia in completely impractical clothing and she would call Myka cursing her name and Myka would laugh at her from a beach somewhere tropical. And then they would make their ways home and she would finally be with Myka once and for all.

If anything good had come from this escapade at least she and Myka had their feelings sorted now. Myka loved her and was willing to follow through with everything that meant. Helena’s heart swelled in her chest. Ever since…it seemed like such a long time ago, before Warehouse 2 and her plan to blow up the world, she had loved Myka. It had intensified in her time in the pokeball. When she had been restored to her body she wanted nothing more than to take the woman in her arms and tell her just how much she loved her, tell her how she had saved her from the darkness. She could do that now without fear of hurting or scaring the other woman.

Helena sat up, smiling slightly. Only today between her and truly holding Myka in arms as she had wished to for so long. She quickly got dressed and padded downstairs. Breakfast was already on the table but she found she had no appetite. Her stomach was too full of butterflies to hold down food.

Leena shot her a knowing look when she pushed her plate away, but didn’t say anything. Artie walked in holding the box with the book in it and the pen. Helena’s stomach dropped even further at the sight. This was really happening soon. She had to keep repeating to herself that everything would be fine. Hadn’t Myka said something to her about some scientific research about positive thoughts influencing the course of events, if only slightly? She had a feeling that she could use even the slightest edge today.

Artie looked over at her as he sat down, drawing his coffee towards him. “Are you still sure you want to go through with this?”

Helena swallowed. “I do. Myka and I talked about it. We’re both going to do it.”

“Alright. If you’re sure.”

“I am. Just…perhaps it should happen soon before my nerves get the best of me?”

Artie nodded. “After breakfast. I set up everything last night just in case. Though I suppose it wasn’t really just in case. You are rather stubborn.”

Helena smiled weakly. “So I’ve been told now in three different centuries.”

“I’m not sure if that’s something to be proud of, or not,” Pete mumbled through his eggs.

“It brings you back your Myka. I suppose in this case it’s something to be proud of, or perhaps at least beneficial. My mother thought nothing good would ever come of it. I wonder what she would say today. Then again, she’d probably die at the attire we’re all wearing before she ever could consider my stubbornness was a good quality or not.” Helena laughed a few times, but there was no real mirth.

They ate in silence a little while. Helena sat silently, not moving with her arms wrapped around her middle. Everything would be fine.

Except for today could be her last day.

No, everything would be fine.

Her brain waged a war within the confines of her skull. A headache the size of the Roman army developed between her eyes. Now was not the time for such pains.

“Who’s going to be using the spell book?” Helena finally asked, tiring of the quiet. It allowed her to think far too much.

“I will,” Artie said. “Leena will be handing you the pen. Pete’s going to be standing in the back with purple goo on hand just in case things get unpredictably messy.”

“Yup, then I get to goo it up.” Pete mimed a combination shooting and spraying move. Helena rolled her eyes slightly at the vulgarity of it.

“Ok.” Helena let out a breath slowly. Leena handing her the pen was a good idea. She was calm, cool, and collected in times of great pressure. She wouldn’t let her have the pen too soon and wouldn’t hold onto it until it was too late. She trusted the other woman. Perhaps the only one she trusted in the merry band more than the inn keeper was the woman she was trying to get back to.

 “If all goes to plan you’ll be home before lunch. If the time lines line up anyway.”

Helena shook her head. “We’re pretty sure they don’t, but that’s another matter and an unimportant one at that.”

Artie shrugged his shoulders slightly. He took another sip of coffee. Helena wondered how he could appear so calm. This was make or break. They would get the Warehouse back or they wouldn’t. Helena would be out of her mind if she were him.

Then again maybe that was only her projecting her current feelings on the man. Her situation was life and death. The Warehouse, not so much. It would be a hardship, but nothing that couldn’t be surmounted.

Helena clenched her fists and forced herself to stay still and silent for the rest of the meal, focusing on clearing her mind. A buzzing mind was not going to help anything. She started going over kempo move sets in her mind, feeling every muscle that should tense with each move, feeling every release as she relaxed. It did wonders to calm her and clear her mind, but she still could sense the thoughts under the veneer of calm that would burst through if she lost focus.

“H.G., H.G.?” Artie waved his face in front of her face.

Helena shook her head and turned towards the man, blinking a few times. “Yes?”

“We’re done. Are you ready?”

Helena took a slightly shaking breath. “Yes.”

They all walked into the library, now clear of her scanner contraption and most of the usual furniture that took up the space usually. Helena’s mouth went dry as she positioned herself in the middle of the room. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. She had faced death before and never once blinked. She had wished for it more than a few times after Christina had died. But now it was different. She felt the fear that everyone spoke of as they faced death. And here she was going willingly to her potential demise like a lamb to the slaughter. She supposed it was fitting after almost ending the world that she should finally feel the fear she had almost caused everyone else in the world.

She wondered what was different now that her heart was beating triple time and her palms were sweaty. How had she not felt this before? But the answer was clear. Every other time she had faced death she had had nothing to lose. Death was no worse a fate than life. But she had something to live for, Myka. And she had barely gotten any time to enjoy the new happiness she and Myka had found. She was afraid of losing that time, afraid of losing what could be instead what was really in the here and now. And somehow that was even more terrifying.

Artie took her place in front of her. He took the spell book out of its special little box and flipped it open gently, a little over half way through. He looked up at Helena, bushy brows drawn together.

“Ready?”

“Quite ready, darling.” If anyone noticed that Helena’s voice was an octave higher than normal, no one said anything.

“Alright.” Artie nodded at Leena.

The other woman appeared at her side gripped the pen in her bare hand. The pen was such a strange artifact, never whammying more than one person. Helena had to wonder why that was. But it didn’t matter right now. She looked at the pen as if it was a drink of water in the middle of the desert, her salvation. And really, that was quite literally what it was.

She managed to tear her eyes away from the pen long enough to look at Artie once again. Helena nodded once. Artie’s eyes flicked down to the page and started to read.

The words blended together. Helena couldn’t pick out a single intelligible word. All she could hear was the rushing of blood in her ears. Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. She wondered absently if this was what having a heart attack felt like.

More words came out of Artie’s mouth. So many words, enough to fill a boat and then sink it many times over. But it seemed like nothing was happening. Helena glanced down at herself to confirm. She didn’t seem to be any more ephemeral than normal.

She glanced up at Artie, whose eyes were still down on the page reading word after word, a droning buzz that filled Helena’s head. She tried to catch his attention. This wasn’t working. He had to try something else. He was doing it wrong. She didn’t want this to last any longer than it had to. Her heart wasn’t going to be able to take much more of this.

But Artie wouldn’t look up. He kept reading, kept firing words into the air like bullets that were hitting Helena square in the chest. She turned frantically to Leena. The other woman was watching her intently. Her eyes met Helena’s, filled with concern and compassion.

The inn keeper opened her mouth and more words spewed out, but Helena couldn’t understand. She opened her mouth to tell Leena that Artie was doing it wrong, that it wasn’t working. She had to do something to help Helena fix it so it would just be over. But the words wouldn’t come. They were stuck in her throat, blocked by the overabundance of words in the air around her. She felt the words from the book flow down her throat and push down the words she wanted to speak. She was helpless. She had no voice. For the first time in her life words were betraying her.

With the spread of words through her body she felt odd. They poured down her throat and into every single part of her. Helena shuddered at the feeling. These words were not her own. They weren’t the ones who ran through her blood every day, who told stories of time machines and invading aliens. They were foreign, distorting everything, words of death and desperation that even in her darkest days Helena had not felt.

She wanted to scream, but even that ability was taken from her. Words clogged her lungs, stopped her breath. They made her blood run black and thick, slowing her heart and making it work three times as hard just to keep her alive. Helena wanted nothing more than for it to end. She didn’t care how now. She didn’t care if she saved the Warehouse. She only cared that this stopped. It was worse than death. It was never ending.

A thought pierced through the words. Myka was going to have to go through this. And it was all her fault. And with that thought the words flooded her brain and took it over too. Helena was no longer herself anymore. She was words. A distant part of her registered the poetry of that. To so many people in the world that’s all she was, words made into stories, and here she was made up of only words that weren’t hers, but words nonetheless.

Suddenly, there was a pressure where she thought her hand might be. She wasn’t quite sure anymore. She remembered that something was supposed to happen. Something important. But the words were blocking it out. Was she supposed to grip onto this pressure? Was she supposed to throw it away? Would either option end this? She had to do something, didn’t she?

The words told her, no she didn’t. She should stay as she was. Words were glory. Words were power. They had the potential to change the world, the potential to end it. If she was words she was the greatest thing in existence.

Oh, but words were painful. Words had cutting edges. They were hurting her just as much as they were making her great. What was she to do? Words had made Myka love her even before they met. Was she to give that up so quickly just for a little pain? She could be even greater than the books she wrote once upon a time.

Myka. Something about Myka. It was the one thing the words couldn’t get to. They had no power over the image of her. There were no words to describe her, to break her down into a concept, a string of words strung together to explain everything about her. Myka. There was something she had to do for Myka. To get to Myka. But what was it?

The pressure on her hand came again. Did the pressure have something to do with what she had to do for Myka? The words shouted no at her in every way and in every language possible. What she had to do for Myka was let that pressure go. Everything would be fine if she just let that pressure go. If she just let everything go. She would be all words. She would be glory and light. There wouldn’t be any more darkness in her. Words had no room for darkness. They illuminated the world.

Helena was almost swayed. Words had brightened her life for such a long time. Surely what they were saying must be true. Surely Myka would love her more if she was all light instead of the amalgam of darkness and light that she was. They could be so great together, the words and the word lover. It was a match made in heaven.

But Myka loved her just as she was, just as she loved Myka for everything she was, mop of frizzy curly hair and a fear of opening up to others and a love of order and protocol that sometimes got in the way of the fun she wanted to have, everything.

The pressure came again and this time she closed her hand. Myka would take her as she was. And she hadn’t dealt well with being told what to do, anyway.

And in an instant the words were gone and all there was, was light.

 

 


	47. Chapter 47

Myka woke up and for the first time in a long time felt at peace. She was going home today. She was going to see Helena. She was finally going to see Helena face to face since their relationship had turned into something more than friendship. She would get to tell Helena that she loved her face to face. Not just kiss her and fall asleep with her in some random hotel room right before getting shipped off to another universe. This was going to be real, permanent this time.

A smile nestled firmly on her face as she got ready for the day. Now all that had to happen was Jinks and Claudia had to get back from fetching the spell book and everything could be accomplished. She could be at home with Helena before lunchtime if everything happened in a timely manner.

Twinges of fear rocketed through her every now and again, but she disregarded them. No, she didn’t know if the spell book and pen would work together, but for some reason in this, and this alone, she had faith without empirical evidence to support her conclusion. This would work out. She and Helena worked too hard for it to turn out anyway but ok. They had two different sets of Warehouse agents on their sides as well.  With that much brain power at their disposal there was still room for error certainly, but the margin was much smaller than it could have been. Than it should have been, really. What they were doing was risky, but then again it was just another day at the Warehouse really.

The uncertainty she had felt up until the night before just didn’t seem to affect her today. For that she was thankful. She couldn’t image how this would feel, going forward with a plan that she was worried about every single aspect, but knowing she had to do it anyway, that she had committed. Myka never backed out of her commitments. She was never allowed to as a child and when she got older she was too stubborn. She would have gone through with it, even worried about it, but she would have made herself sick.

Her mind wandered to Helena as she ran her fingers through her hair, looking at herself in the mirror and putting the finishing touches on her outfit for the day. She had chosen the exact same set of clothes she’d been wearing in the other universe just in case that actually mattered somehow. She wondered if Helena was doing the same thing. She wondered if she was nervous. Probably not, Helena always seemed to charge ahead no matter what. Myka bit her lip, that didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous, though. She always did have a habit of shielding her true feelings.

She was the one who had assured Myka everything was fine the night before, though. No matter how she was with everyone else, Helena let down her guard with her. If she was confident enough to comfort Myka about this whole thing, then surely she was fine. Maybe a little nervous, since it was such a big risk, but nothing debilitating.

Or at least she hoped. Every time she thought of the other woman an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. It felt like something was wrong, nothing catastrophic, but just enough to set her on edge.

Myka walked down stairs to the familiar scene of the group sitting down for breakfast together. She didn’t have to stretch her imagination too hard to imagine that she was home again, even if she wasn’t. Things here were so much alike. And yet she pictured herself having to do a double take or two when she got home when all the little different things that she had gotten used to were suddenly gone again.

Jinks and Claudia were nowhere to be seen at the table. They weren’t back yet it seemed. Myka sighed and sat down. They would be back soon enough. Everything would happen soon enough. Home. God, it sounded so good after this roller coaster adventure in this other universe. She never was more thankful that things had gone the way they had at home. They had been chaotic and she had hated them at the time…but seeing how else they could have gone? She was extremely grateful. She didn’t even want to think about the other universes that might have had it worse than even the one she was in. Pandora’s Box could have split open or worse.

Artie looked up at her as she sat down. “The Wonder Twins called. They’re on their way back. They’ll be here in a few hours. Maybe less if Claudia’s driving.”

Leena snorted. “Jinks won’t let her anywhere near a car after the last time they went on a mission together and he made the mistake of letting her drive.”

“I didn’t think she was that bad of a driver.” Pete shrugged and pushed his plate forward, still half filled.

“You were driving to Univille. There’s no real hurry to get to anything in Univille. Just try it when she wants to get to a tech store that has a sale on parts and see how her driving is then.” Leena winced.

“Uh, don’t think I want to go to a tech store, so no thank you.”

“You’d go if it involved any kind of food afterwards.” Myka smirked at her partner.

“Hey!”

Leena, Artie, and Myka just looked at him daring him to go on.

“Alright, so maybe, but food is just so good.”

Myka glanced at his half full plate. “Then what’s wrong with that food?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “Just not hungry today, you know. One of those days.”

“I’ve never seen one of those days.” Myka cocked an eyebrow.

“Neither have I,” Leena added. “Most times I have to fight to keep the fridge stocked.”

He shrugged again. “Happens, I swear. I’m not a black hole all the time.”

Myka rolled her eyes and let it go. Maybe the eggs weren’t to his liking and he was being too polite to tell Leena. Myka herself wasn’t exactly feeling very hungry. What little nerves she was suffering from were making her stomach fill with butterflies. There wasn’t exactly any room for food. Who knew how the pen would affect her anyway. It was probably better that she had an empty stomach for the trip.

They sat through the rest of breakfast making small talk. It felt a little forced to Myka, but that as to be expected. None of them knew what was going to happen in the next few hours. They were all just feeling the nerves and trying to act normal, which never actually came off as normal. It was fine.

Myka helped Leena clean up the dishes and the kitchen to give herself and her nervous energy something to do while she waited. Leena smiled warmly at her and handed her the drying rag but asked no questions. When they were done scrubbing everything from top to bottom Myka was still restless, but there was nothing left to do so she drifted out into the other rooms of the B&B, just wandering with no real object.

“Mykes,” Pete called in the middle of her wandering.

Myka turned and smiled slightly at her partner. “What’s up?”

He walked up the hall so he stood beside her. “You know you don’t have to do this, you know?” The look on his face was worried and anxious in equal measure.

Myka’s face softened. She reached out and set her hand on top of Pete’s arm. “I know, Pete. It’s fine. Helena and I already decided together that we would do this and save the Warehouses in both our universes. But that doesn’t mean we made the decision lightly. We considered all our options. I know what I’m getting into. It’s going to work, though, Pete. I believe it will. I didn’t really until this morning, but…” Myka trailed off and shrugged.

“Vibe?”

Myka titled her head to the side, considering. “Maybe. I’m not sure. I’m not the one who gets them all the time. Why do you have a vibe about all this?”

Pete shook his head. “I’d almost feel better if I did. I usually get one any time anything major is about to happen, but with this it’s just…nothing. I’m worried about you Mykes.”

Myka squeezed the arm under her hand. “I’ll be fine. And if all goes well you’ll have your own Mykes to worry about like you’re her older brother.”

Pete just looked at Myka. “I still worry about you even if you’re not from here. You’re still Mykes no matter what, just this version doesn’t sometimes scream at me in Arabic from the middle ages.”

Myka cocked an eyebrow. “What did you do to deserve that?”

“I may have eaten her whole pack of Twizzlers and she was having a _really_ bad day.”

“That’ll do it. I may have set my ferret loose in Pete’s room to chew on his shoes when he did that to me.”

“You have a ferret?”

Myka smirked. “Yeah, his name is Pete.” She turned and continued walking down the hallway, leaving a spluttering Pete in her wake.

 

She wandered around and around, never stopping for long in one place for very long before continuing until the front door opened. Myka made her way to the entryway and leaned on the doorway to one of the many hallways in the B&B. Claudia was clomping around, throwing her keys in the designated bowl by the door and throwing off her jacket on the coat rack. She turned and smiled at Myka, red hair standing slightly on end from all the static.

“Hey, Mykes.”

Jinks appeared a second later, bags in tow along with a small box under his arm. “Really, Claud? Do I have to carry everything?”

“You big strong man, me weak female.” She spoke in affected cavemen accented.

Jinks rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and if I ever use that line you’re going to attack me and go on a rant about the gender inequality in this country.”

“Hey! There is.”

“I’m well aware. I’m possibly the last one you need to give that lecture to, and I think you should probably find another argument to justify why I carry everything. It sort of perpetuates that whole inequality thing.”

Claudia scowled. “Ok, fine Jinksy. Those who are fastest to get out of the car are those who do not have to carry anything.”

“And when I get out of the car faster than you?”

“I think you underestimate how much I don’t like to carry heavy things.”

“We’ll see.” Jinks dropped Claudia’s bag on her toes. “And maybe you’ll learn how to pack light.”

“I needed half of the tech stuff in there to complete our mission!”

“You were changing red lights to green.”

“But it was crucial to our mission!”

Jinks walked over to Myka and handed her the box. “There’s the book. If Artie needs to know how it went I’ll be up in my room putting stuff away.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Come on Miss Packs-a-lot-of-tech-junk, there’s some stuff of yours in my bag too.”

“There wasn’t any room in my bag.”

Jinks shook his head and walked off with a small smile on his face, Claudia trailing after.

Myka stared at the box in her hands. So this was how she was going home. The box itself was the size of a regular book. The spell book itself had to be smaller just to fit inside. Funny, she’d imagined something a lot bigger. Powerful things ought to be big. Small was so deceiving. It didn’t hint at the power that was contained inside.

Myka popped open the box carefully to take a look inside. The book was bound in old leather. Despite its years it still looked supple. The pages were dark yellow and the smell wafting off of them was odd, not the usual smell of books she was used to, it was slightly mustier. It looked so fragile for something that could literally make people disappear from the world. Then again a lot of things in the Warehouse looked like they couldn’t harm anyone until they did. This was just another item on that list.

She closed the box and set out to find Artie. She found him sitting in the library pouring over a set of books she hadn’t seem before at one of the desks scattered in the room. Myka walked to the middle of the room and cleared her throat. Artie shut the book he was flipping through, dog earing the page, and turned toward her.

“They got the spell book.” Myka held up the box just slightly.

“I heard their bickering in the hall.” Artie stood up and walked over to her. “Are you still sure you want to do this? Everything I’ve found says that the Artie in the other universe was right. If he exists he knows what he’s doing. But are you really sure that this whole other universe in your head is real? Are you willing to risk it?” For once there was nothing malicious about Artie when he talked of the other universes only being a fiction that existed in Myka’s head. This time there was only worry, a desperate desire not to lose yet another agent.

“It’s real Artie. There’s no risk that it’s not. I know it’s real as surely as I know the color of my own hair.” Myka fingered one of her many ringlets.

“Even if it is…Myka it’s still ridiculously risky. Nothing is guaranteed here.”

Myka bit her lip for a few moments. “I know. But that’s ok. It’s worth the risk. Helena’s on the other side. And I trust you guys to try your best to get me home as safely as possible”

Artie sighed heavily. “Ok. We’ll try it then.”

Myka handed Artie the box. “Thank you, Artie.”

He nodded stiffly. “Send the others back down here, there are a few things we need to do to get ready.”

“Alright.” Myka turned to leave the room. She got to the doorway before Artie’s voice stopped her.

“Myka?”

Myka turned to face him. “Yes?”

“Are you really sure?”

Myka just smiled. “There have been a lot of times in life where I thought I was sure of my decision. This time, well it makes all those other times look like I was on the fence to the very end.” And with that she left the room, still smiling.

 

Half an hour later they were standing in the library once again. The furniture was cleared from the room, all that was left in place were the rugs. Myka curled her toes into the carpet slightly, feeling the fibers squishing under her even through her shoes. Pete, Claudia, and Leena were lined against the far wall, staring at Myka with varying degrees of worry on their faces. Artie stood in front of her, separated by only two strides or so. Jinks stood beside her, pen clasped in his fist. His eyes were closed and his breathing was deep and regular. Myka wished that there was someplace in her mind right now that would let her just rest like that and clear her head. But there were far too many thoughts for that to happen and Myka just didn’t have the discipline at the moment to make it happen. She envied Jinks a little in that moment.

The nerves she had felt all day had ramped up to eleven. She felt like she did in high school right before a big fencing competition. She had to do well, had to make her father proud. But that hadn’t happened until years later and a few artifact mishaps later. Still, her teenaged self hadn’t known that. She had put so much pressure on herself she would literally get nauseous to the point of being sick before striding out into the gym for her match. Only sheer force of will and an empty stomach kept her from puking right then.

Artie turned to the group watching them. “Under no circumstances are you to interfere with anything that’s going on, understand? It might endanger everyone here.”

They all nodded despite it being the third, maybe even fourth time Artie had said exactly that phrase. They were quieter than Myka had ever seen them. That in and of itself was enough to make Myka nervous, not to mention everything else.

Artie turned back to face Myka. “Ready?”

Myka nodded, unable to find her voice now. It had fled as soon as she had stepped into the middle of the room.

Artie took a deep breath. “Alright.” He started to read from the book.

Myka closed her eyes and swallowed. There was no going back now she supposed. Well, there was, but that would get them nowhere. So really there was no going back, because Myka finished what she started, and this wasn’t going to be any exception.

For a long while Artie read. Myka blinked open her eyes. Nothing was really happening. She was supposed to be fading, and yet she wasn’t. Helena was waiting for her she was sure, so why wasn’t she fading? Did Artie not mean it? Is that why she wasn’t fading? After all the reader had to seriously want to send her away to get what they’d lost. Myka would be fine. She had Helena waiting for her. She just wished that this would get over with. She was tired of the nerves, tired of being on edge, tired of not being home. This was the light at the end of the tunnel.

And then an odd feeling passed through her. She felt…lighter almost, like she was flying with her feet planted firmly on the ground. Myka had never felt anything like it before. She glanced down at herself and smiled at the slight transparence she found there. It was happening. She breathed out and felt even lighter.

And the words surrounding her, they were wonderful. They were light and airy, elevating her to new heights. Myka knew so many words in so many languages but she didn’t know words like this. She knew words could be light, that’s how she had gotten by in so many hard years, the words had been her light, her escape, but she didn’t know that words could be…there were no words for it. Words written and said by man were light, but they were a match compared to the bright light of the sun. There was no comparison. The words in the spell book were perfect. They seeped into her skin like the sun’s rays; they warmed her from the inside out. If the words she had read as a child had been this perfect she never would have put down the book. She would have kept on reading and reading until there were no more words to read. 

She inhaled deeply and the words filled her. Her eyes fluttered closed in pleasure. The words were heaven and gentle morning light and hot tea on cold mornings while the earth was blanketed in snow. They were pure, so pure that if they had been a drug she would have surely overdosed. Oh, she never knew that anything could feel like this inside her. She felt as if she was glowing from the inside out. She was warm, so very warm and comfortable, like the feeling of a blanket fresh out of the dryer multiplied by ten. Nothing could compare to this.

Myka sunk down into the words, letting them wrap around every single part of her inside and out. She couldn’t imagine stopping. She thought she understood now what junkies were talking about when they got high. Except that this was better, this was purer. Words would never pollute her blood, words would scrub it clean and make her feel alive again.

The words were already scrubbing her clean, taking all her bad memories from her and changing the words to make them good before swallowing them whole. Myka felt the burden of her childhood lift off her shoulders as the final memory flew away into the white words and disappeared. Oh, she hadn’t realized how heavy she was before all of this.

Her load lightened and lightened. She didn’t need all her memories. They were weighing her down. It didn’t matter if they were happy or sad or anything in-between, they were heavy. They weren’t goodness and light. They weren’t needed. All she needed was the words.

Even her body was weighing her down. She didn’t need it either. What use were limbs and organs to her? What could they be used for? They weren’t perfect. They couldn’t bring about change like words could. They couldn’t light up the world. All they were doing was weighing it down. And as the seconds passed her body was less and less. Soon she would just be the words. Myka thought that this was what she was preparing for her whole life. She already had so many words inside her, why not just become them. Words didn’t have bodies. They didn’t need them. The fading feeling of her body pleased her greatly.

There was one thing that was as light as the words though, something that the words couldn’t touch, couldn’t purify further. Helena. Her love and memory of Helena was already such a bright white it hurt. Her love for the other woman had always been the purest thing about her. It brought a smile to her fading face that even amongst the words Helena was just as pure. It was how it was supposed to be.

Something passed through Myka’s hand. She scowled and tried to open her eyes, but all she saw was light. She couldn’t see the world around her anymore. Why was something or someone trying to interrupt her transformation into words, into light? Shouldn’t they be glad for her that she had been found worthy enough by the words to be accepted as one of their own? Hardly anyone became a word. They should be proud they knew someone who had and leave her alone.

The words caressed her and whispered to her that they were proud of her, that she was the best one they had accepted yet. It sent a pang of pain through Myka but she wasn’t quite sure why. She had the strange feeling that she had waited for those words for years, but why? The words kissed her and told her not to worry about it, she was perfect, it didn’t matter. And for Myka that was enough. She smiled again and forgot about her questions. No, it didn’t matter, not anymore.

Then there was the pressure on her hand again. Myka scowled again. What were they doing? Were they trying to bring her back? That was selfish. She wanted to go. She needed to go with the words. Why didn’t they see that?

But there was something nagging at the back of her mind where the memories of Helena still resided. Was it something to do with Helena? Was Helena the one trying to pull at her? Surely the words would accept her as well. Myka had fallen in love with Helena’s words as a small child. That was enough for the words, wasn’t it? If she was perfect then they should love who she loved, right? She couldn’t leave Helena behind at any rate. She loved her, truly and deeply. Myka wouldn’t go anywhere without her.

She cocked her head. But she had gone somewhere without her. It hadn’t been by choice though, she remembered. Where had she gone? The pressure came at her hand again. The pressure had something to do with all of this, why she had left Helena. She knew it deep down, but she couldn’t make the connection. In a sea full of words she felt dumb. She couldn’t make one simple connection. She had been doing this all her life. Surely she could do it now one last time before she became the words.

If she could have gasped she would have. The pen. Helena. Oh god. That’s what the pressure was, someone was handing her the pen. Had she missed the window of opportunity?

The words told her it didn’t matter. They would take care of her no matter what. Helena would join her in time. She would come soon. Myka just had to trust the words as she always had.

But the pressure of the pen came again and this time Myka grabbed for it. She wasn’t going to listen to promises. Promises could be broken and she couldn’t risk never seeing Helena again. It wouldn’t matter if she was only words, she would die, shift into some dead language and just cease to be. No one would use her, she wouldn’t live, wouldn’t change, and she didn’t want that.

When the pen finally slotted into her grasp the words left her but the whiteness remained as she felt herself pulled somewhere else.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, moving into school is super time consuming.


	48. Chapter 48

Myka and Helena opened their eyes at the exact same time. They each let out a deep breath of relief when their eyes found each other. It was ok, everything had turned out fine. They were with each other now. Helena reached out and caressed Myka’s face gently.

“Hello, my darling.” A small, warm smile appeared on her face.

Myka threw her arms forward and wrapped up Helena tightly. She buried her face in dark hair and inhaled. There were no words for this. No words were needed. All that mattered was that they were with each other.

Helena’s free arm wrapped around Myka’s waist and pulled her impossibly closer. Helena hummed contentedly and released the first sigh in a very long time that was borne of a positive emotion instead of a negative one. Wrapped in Myka’s arms she felt light, better than she had in years.

Myka closed her eyes. This was all she needed for the rest of her life. She could freeze time here and be perfectly content. She needed nothing more than Helena. Helena was her light.

They laid curled up around each other for a long, long time, neither wanting to move. It was the end. They didn’t need to move now. They had been running for such a long time but there was no need to run now. No artifacts needed chased down just so they could get home. No Warehouses needed saving. No people needed saving. They were free to just be.

Myka was the first to let go of her death grip, shifting positions and settling into a position better suited to sleep. Her eyes were drooping now, her body weighed down. After feeling so light everything felt so heavy except for Helena’s arms. With seeming gargantuan effort she moved down so her head was resting on Helena’s chest right above her heart, the steady rhythm against her ear soothing. It was better than the best lullaby. She felt herself drifting to sleep in a matter of moments.

Helena smiled as a sleepy Myka finally slipped into unconsciousness. She looked down at her peaceful face and kissed her temple lightly. Her fingers came up to gently card through curly hair. She was exhausted too. Perhaps now was as good a time as any to drift off. After the blackness of the words and fighting them off her body was weighed down. A nap sounded wonderful and there was no safer place than right her with Myka wrapped around her. Her eyes slipped closed, Myka’s steady tickling breaths against her chest lulling her to sleep quickly.

 

They both woke what seemed like an eternity later. Both remained in the positions they had fallen asleep in, not wanting to move just yet. That could come later. For now they wanted to revel in the fact that they were touching and that it was real this time. That it wasn’t in a world between universes that may or may not have existed.

Myka finally yawned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She stiffened when she finally managed to open her eyes. She whipped her head from side to side to make sure she was seeing right. Everything was white around them. Had she really given into the words?

“Myka, darling, what’s wrong?”

Myka pulled Helena into a sitting position by her. “This.”

Helena surveyed the world of white around them. There was nothing, no horizon, no bumps, nothing but an eternity of white. They were the only color within the space.  She swallowed hard. Perhaps they weren’t as home free as they had thought.

“Where are we?” Helena asked.

“I have no idea.”

“Do you suppose this is where everyone ends up after the spell book is used on them?”

Myka shook her head. “No, there would be words. I’m not sure if we would really even still exist if the spell book had really taken us.”

Helena nodded. “I’m sorry I put you through that.” A shiver ran through her. “I think I quite understand where people are coming from when they say words can be quite vile now. All that blackness…”

“What do you mean? Everything was white and light, like walking into paradise.”

Helena looked at Myka, scanning her face, eyebrows slightly scrunched. “That wasn’t how it was for me at all. The words forced themselves into me. They were this black presence that was all silk covered poison and malice.”

“That sounds horrible.”

“It was. I’m glad you didn’t have to go through it.”

Myka shrugged. “The light may have been better feeling wise, but I’m not sure it wasn’t exactly malicious and manipulative. They still wanted to take everything I was and break it into words and make it so I never existed.”

“Yes, I suppose so then. Do you think the book worked then since the words did not get us?”

“I’m…not sure.” Myka tried to recall some of the things that happened in her childhood, the first things that the words had taken from her and there were holes. Some memories just weren’t there. It scared her beyond reason. She had managed to rip herself away from the words, but they had still gotten a part of her.

“They did in a way. A lot of the memories of my father when I was younger, mostly those where he wasn’t exactly being supportive…they’re just gone. ” Myka clenched her fists.

Helena thought for a few moments and nodded slowly. Tears started to flow down her cheeks. “Some of my memories of Christina are gone now.”

Helena felt Myka’s arms wrap around her. She didn’t respond. She felt just a little emptier than she should. She almost knew exactly what memories were missing, could almost recall the content of them, but it was like it was on the tip of her tongue but it just wouldn’t come no matter what she did. She had so few memories of her darling daughter. They couldn’t have hurt her more if they had tried.

Thumbs wiped at her face. “We’ll get them back. I know you kept diaries about everything. They’ll be something when we get home.”

“If we get home.” Helena looked around at the never ending white.

“We’ve made it this far. We’ve managed to travel to three different universes together, providing that this is a universe, I think at this point getting back to a fourth won’t be too hard.”

Helena smiled a watery smile. “Look at my little optimist.” Her arms finally came up to wrap around Myka.

Time passed. Neither knew how much. In a white void there was no change in light to let them know. It seemed like a good while, but they weren’t sure.

“What if we’re stuck here?” Myka finally asked in a quiet voice.

Helena swallowed. “I suppose it would be at least partially worth it if the people we left behind got their Warehouses back. And at least we are together here. It could always be worse.”

Myka nodded weakly. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Myka?” Claudia’s voice came from everywhere at once.

Both of them whipped around, looking for the red head. Surely she hadn’t been pulled with them into this other universe. But they found no one. They glanced towards each other with worried eyes. Had they imagined it?

“Myka, you have to be here, we brought back the Warehouse! We saved Jinksy! You _have_ to be here!” Claudia yelled again.

Both women jumped back as a screen appeared in front of them displaying a picture of Claudia running through Warehouse aisles. Another voice filtered to them. They both scrunched their brows.

“Is that you?” Myka asked.

“It seems so, darling. It sounds like me, at least.”

The screen swiveled to face a running Helena, rows away from the running Claudia. Helena found it weird to watch herself move around having no memory of the action. It was like an out of body experience. Except that wasn’t her body on screen, was it?

“Is this the universe you were in?” Myka asked.

“I think so.”

“How are we even seeing this?”

Helena shook her head. “I couldn’t tell you if I wanted, darling. Physics, I suppose.”

Myka snorted lightly. “How very accurate.” She looked up at the screen again. “At least it looks like they’ve gotten their Warehouse back.”

“So it seems.” But Helena’s mouth remained in a permanent frown. The Warehouse wasn’t as important as the person that they were looking for. It would be a bitter victory if their Myka wasn’t there.

“Myka!” The cry seemed to reverberate off the Warehouse walls and in the great white vastness that surrounded them.

“I thought that bringing back the Warehouse was supposed to bring that universe’s Myka as well.”

“That was the prevailing theory. It seems like something went wrong, however. Perhaps because we weren’t completely consumed by the spell book.”

Myka nodded her agreement and they both went back to watching their friends frantically search for another Myka. Helena’s hand eventually inched over to Myka’s hand and gripped it tightly. Feet pounded and ragged breaths surrounded them as they sat and watched as every aisle was searched thoroughly. With every minute that passed they lost a little more hope and it was clear that the others did as well. Claudia’s feet slowed, her yelling became less frequent and more melancholy. The other Helena on the other hand reacted oppositely, running quicker and yelling louder and she became more and more desperate to find the other woman.

And finally there were no more aisles to search. The other Helena hit the ground hard, knees cracking loudly on the concrete floor but she never even flinched. Helena flinched for her, though, a universe apart. She knew that feeling, losing Myka. She didn’t envy the woman. She wouldn’t relive that feeling to save the world. Tears and violent sobs ripped themselves from the broken woman. She was different than Helena in that little way. She didn’t cry, at least where anyone could find her, but in that other universe it seemed she did. Helena idly wondered if that wasn’t slightly healthier.

“What do you think she’s going to do?” Myka asked her quietly, eyes still glued on the screen.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think anything world ending. She wouldn’t want to do that to the memory of you. I didn’t. But she and I are different even if we are the same.”

“Do you think she’ll hurt herself?”

“I never have been able to, but again…” Helena trailed off. The pain radiating off the other woman on screen was causing tears to build in her own eyes.

“You ran away from the Warehouse.”

“I did, and she might too, but I’m not sure.” She extricated her hand from Myka’s and wrapped an arm around the other woman’s shoulders, drawing her closer to her body. She relaxed slightly when Myka’s form met her own.

“Do you think the others will help her?”

Helena nodded. “Yes, even if she isn’t me exactly I would think the fact that I helped them will leave a positive impact on them, though I think that really only matters for Artie. The others would have helped me before, they aren’t quite as distrustful as Artie. It’s just like at home really.”

“Yeah…”

They watched for a while longer. The other Helena ran out of tears and just curled into a ball on the Warehouse floor, dry sobs wracking her frame every now and then. Both of them wondered if there was a way to turn off this odd projection of the other universe. It was too painful, but at the same time it was hard to look away.

While they were watching dust started to swirl gently around the other Helena. It concentrated in one area just a few feet from the other woman and started to shape itself. A little gasp escaped Myka and Helena sat up a little straighter. The other Helena, however, didn’t notice that something was going on. The dust finished forming, leaving a ghostly figure of Myka. Helena’s arm clenched Myka tighter against her. The Warehouse had so many surprises, but this one was one of the biggest.

The dusty figure kneeled beside the other Helena and squeezed her shoulder. “Helena.”

Red eyes blinked open blearily and stared up at the dust Myka and blinked uncomprehendingly. “Myka?”

“Yeah.” The ghost Myka smiled.

“How?”

The other Myka shrugged. “I haven’t exactly thought about it. I’ve barely even got the hang of this.” She gestured to her dusty body.

“But you’re alive?”

“In a way. The Warehouse is keeping me alive. It’s like I’m fused with its consciousness almost, except I’m a separate entity, I guess? I don’t know. I woke up like an hour ago. I’ve been figuring out things as I went along, really.”

The other Helena reached up and squeezed the dusty hand, coughing a little as more dust flew up in her face. “But I’m not hallucinating?”

“No, you aren’t.”

“Oh, thank the gods.” The other Helena lunged up and pulled the dusty Myka into a hug. “I don’t think I could have stood for you to be dead. You bloody, idiot. Never sacrifice yourself again for me.”

“I can’t say that I won’t do it again.”

Helena pulled back. “Don’t.”

Ghost Myka smiled slightly. “Considering I’m literally made of dust right now, I don’t think it would matter.”

“Don’t you dare think I’m not going to find some way to get you back in your own body.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“I would kiss you, darling, if I didn’t mind the taste of dust.” Helena laughed, still holding onto Myka tightly.

“I don’t blame you.” Myka’s hand came up and cupped Helena’s face gently. “For now it’s just enough for you to be here.”

“Gods, is it ever.”

The scene started to fade in front of them. Myka and Helena breathed out a sigh and sat back slightly. Myka turned more into Helena and wrapped her arms around Helena’s middle.

“Well, that wasn’t how I imagined that,” Helena said after a few minutes.

“No.” She let out a breath that tickled Helena’s neck. “What do you suppose happened in my universe?”

“I’m not sure. I hope not the same thing. What a tragic place for our story to be stuck in, in two different universes.”

“Yeah, but I think they’ll figure out something.”

“They will, but they should not have to.”

Myka hummed her agreement.

This time when the screen reappeared they weren’t quite so surprised. Myka sat straighter. This had to be her universe, if the screen was still holding to the same pattern.

The screen this time focused on Claudia, Pete, Artie, Leena, and Jinks all piled into her SUV. She heard Helena’s intake of breath as she registered her absence from the scene. It seemed that she hadn’t returned to that universe as planned.

“Do you think it really worked?” Claudia asked, watching the empty fields rush past the window.

“Only one real way to tell,” Artie muttered from the front seat. His hands gripped the steering wheel so hard that they were white.

The others remained silent, looking down at their hands or looking out the window for the rest of the trip.

“Their Myka isn’t there,” Helena finally said, looking over the car one last time just to be absolutely sure.

“No, she’s not.”

“But I came back in the other universe. What changed?”

“Physics I suppose.”

“Physics doesn’t change, darling.”

“It might in the Warehouse. But it really could have been any of a thousand things, Helena. It’s not like putting two artifacts together is a science, we knew that going in.”

“But…I would have rather it been me who hadn’t appeared.”

“I wouldn’t.” Myka turned to look at Helena. “I think both of us would rather see ourselves gone before the other, though, don’t you think?”

Helena nodded. “You deserve everything I could ever give you, and if that means existing in a universe I don’t belong in, that’s exactly what you are going to get.”

“Exactly.” She leaned forward and kissed Helena’s forehead. “But we aren’t going to do anything stupid like trying to sacrifice ourselves for the other if we get home. If we’re going to go out, we’ll do it together.”

“I can’t promise that.”

The corners of Myka’s mouth turned up slightly. “Neither can I, but keep it in mind.”

“That, I’ll endeavor to do.”

“That’s all I ask.”

They both heard the cry rise up from the car as it crested the hill. The Warehouse wasn’t there. Myka felt Helena’s arm tighten on her. Apparently her sacrifice had been in vain. Her stomach sank to the floor. Here she was trapped in a never ending void of white and she had nothing to show for it.

She glanced over at Helena. Well, maybe not nothing, but it wasn’t quite all she wished. Helena was more than enough for her, but she wanted to take care of her Warehouse family as well, and it looked like she had failed. She hadn’t even managed to bring back the Helena of the other universe or the other her for that matter. She swallowed hard.

The group pulled up just outside of the Warehouse’s remains. “Go, search everything see if anything has changed and report back,” Artie said, finally letting go of the steering wheel. He stared blankly out at the wreckage of the Warehouse.

The others got out and started to divide the wreckage into quadrants and split up a few minutes later, fanning out in a straight line a good distance apart from each other. The screen followed Leena, zooming in on her after the zoomed out shot of the whole group walking the wreckage.

“Why Leena?” Myka asked no one in particular.

“Why did the last one start off on Claudia? As far as I knew she was supposed to be back in Jinks’s hometown helping Jinks with his metronome problem.”

Myka shrugged. “She did say something about saving Jinks. Maybe she’d already done it and come back to the Warehouse?”

“I don’t know. But they only had a day at most. Didn’t they take three days at home to accomplish the same thing?”

Myka tore her eyes away from the screen. “Haven’t we established that it doesn’t always have to happen as it did back in our universe?”

Helena still stared at the screen as it followed Leena closely. “Fair enough, but still it’s quite odd. I wouldn’t think Jinks would have had the time to work through the problems he had with his mother in such a short time.”

“People are full of surprises.”

The screen zoomed out a little. Myka felt Helena stiffen beside her. She glanced over at the screen again and frozen herself.

“That they are,” Helena finally breathed.

Myka lay on the screen looking a little battered and worse for the wear, but her chest still moved up and down. She was very much alive. Leena raced over to her and kneeled down.

“Myka?” The inn keeper nudged her gently. “Myka, can you wake up for me?”

The other Myka’s eyes blinked open. “Leena?” Her voice was rough from disuse.

“Yeah.” The other woman smiled brightly.

“But you’re dead? I just found your body a minute ago.”

“I don’t recall ever dying.”

“But Artie shot you?”

Leena shook her head. “No, I’m alright. Artie might want to shoot me sometimes, but he hasn’t done it yet.”

Myka sat up slowly and looked around her. “Where’s the Warehouse?”

Leena shook her head. “You really aren’t her, are you?”

Myka’s brow scrunched. “What do you mean?”

“I’ll explain later, but I think you might have been in another universe for a while.”

“What?” Myka’s look turned incredulous.

“I know how it sounds, but we’ll all fill you in later. Do you think you can stand?”

Myka stood up slowly, obviously stiff, but managed just fine.

“We should probably get you back to the B&B.” Leena set her hand gently on Myka’s shoulder and tried to steer her back towards the SUV.

The other Myka slipped out of her grasp, though, and started to walk around the wreckage. “Pandora’s box, was it ruptured?”

Leena shook her head. “We were lucky.”

“And no one used Magellan’s astrolabe to bring back the Warehouse?”

“Well, if they had we would be on the Warehouse floor now, wouldn’t we?”

Myka nodded, taking the information in. “Ok.”

She wandered off farther, taking in the destruction. “It’s different.”

Leena jogged to catch up with her. “What?”

Myka shook her head and kept on walking.

“So they were in another universe,” Myka said, looking over at Helena.

“From what your counterpart is saying, it seems like it.”

“So if they went elsewhere, are there just an infinite line of displaced Mykas and Helenas snapping back into place?”

“I have no idea, darling. I don’t think I have had one since we grabbed that pen back at Stanford.”

Myka laughed once. “I don’t suppose either of us have, really.”

“Helena!” The on screen Myka shouted.

Immediately the two of them snapped back to watch the screen. The other Helena was in much the same state as Myka herself had been a few minutes earlier. The other Myka ran towards her, falling to her knees just before she was really at the other woman’s side and sliding the rest of the way. She reached out and caressed dark hair out of the British woman’s face smiling fondly.

“Oh, god, you’re alright. You’re here. God, Marcus didn’t shoot you. Oh my god.”

Dark eyes finally opened slowly. “Myka?”

“Yeah, baby, I’m here.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call me baby before, I quite like it.”

“I’ll call you baby every day if you don’t go get yourself hurt again.”

“No promises, darling, but I’ll try.”

Myka leaned forward and kissed Helena fiercely. She pulled back, hair blowing in the wind as the sun beat down on her. “That’s all I can ask.”

The two woman smiled at the conversation that so mirrored their own only moments earlier. The screen faded from in front of them. They both took a deep breath and turned towards each other. Sad, small smiles graced each of their faces.

“So we helped the at least. Both worlds. Even if it wasn’t exactly how we wanted.” Myka bit her lip.

“Yes, I suppose we did. It may not have been perfect but it’s something.”

They both looked around the infinite void of whiteness.

“It’s something,” Myka whispered back.

Helena turned slightly and reached forward, grabbing the front of Myka’s shirt and tugging her forward hard. The kiss they fell into was fiercer than any they had shared before, full of a thousand different emotions the neither could name, desperation, love, longing, so many in a revolving wheel. Oh, they had helped, and in turn that took the edge off, but they were trapped now. As long as they had each other, though, that would be enough. It would have to and the kiss seemed to communicate that in a way that words couldn’t.

And just as the kiss was starting to mellow out once more, having done all it needed to, to help the two women come to terms with what had happened to them, the white world around them started to fade to black once more.

 


	49. Chapter 49

Helena sat up straight, gasping. She had to blink her eyes against the brightness of the sun surrounding her. Heat enveloped her on all sides. It was jarring after the blankness of the universe of white. It took a few minutes for her senses to regroup and tell her where she was. She almost laughed out loud when she finally realized where it was that the pen had plopped them down.

The wood of the bench they had sat down on so long ago dug into her back. College students swarmed around her in shorts and t-shirts, scurrying to class, sending them odd glances every now and then. They were back where it all began. How full circle. The writer in her appreciated the symmetry.

Myka stirred beside Helena and sat up. She blinked rapidly, head whipping around swiftly. It seemed as if she was having the same problems getting her senses to cooperate. Helena heard her took a deep breath as her eyes finally seemed to focus.

“Welcome back, darling,” Helena said, stroking Myka’s arm lightly.

Myka whipped around to face her. “You’re here.”

Helena smirked. “Yes, sadly I didn’t end up in Siberia.”

Myka lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Helena. “We’re home.”

“That, I believe we are.”

“We’re really here. We actually made it home.”

“Well, if you want to get technical about it, darling, we’re a good two hour plane ride from home.”

Myka pulled back and shot Helena a look. “You know what I mean.”

Helena’s face softened. Her thumbs made soothing circles on Myka’s back. “I do, darling, but I think a little humor after what we’ve just been through is long overdue, don’t you ?”

Myka let out a breath, trying to look stern, but the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, giving her away.

“I suppose.” She stood from the bench. “If you really want to be specific let’s actually go home then. We’ve been away for too long.”

A flood of students released from the physics lecture hall in front of them, chatting merrily, a few skateboarding away, a few blasting music. Helena took out her phone and hit the lock button. She looked at the time and laughed once.

“No, darling, it seems we’ve managed to live an eternity in an hour.” She handed Myka her cell phone.

Myka took it and looked at it for a long minute. “We were gone weeks, _weeks_ and it’s been an hour. How is that even possible?”

Helena held up the bag with the pen in it, keeping it carefully wrapped in three layers of purple gloves on top of the static bag. There was no being too cautious with this artifact, it seemed.

“But I mean, literally it’s warping time and space…spacetime. Right. Ok. Maybe it all makes sense in some complex physics book somewhere.”

“I’m pretty sure this pen was used to write some of those complex physics books.”

Myka ran a hand through her hair. “Yeah, well, I only know the basics of string theory. I was good at physics, but it wasn’t quite so intuitive as some of the other sciences.”

Helena nodded. “I know what you mean. Physics is such a vast, complicated science, even back in my day.” She stood up and linked hands with Myka. “But maybe when we’re visiting the Library of Congress we shall find more than a few books on the subject and we can teach each other.”

Myka smiled brightly at Helena. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’m sure in the mean time I can find a few documentaries we can watch about physics.” She pulled on Helena’s hand and started to drag her back to the car. “Oh, are you going to love the changes in astrophysics since your day.”

Helena laughed and let herself be drug across campus, enjoying the feel of Myka’s hand in her own.

 

They arrived back at the B&B much later that night. Helena was exhausted, but she stopped and stood looking at the building for a little while. It was home. Somehow this B&B was home. Even though the other one in the other universe had been exactly the same, it hadn’t had the same air, the same feel, that made it her home. She stepped forward and made for the door.

Myka was there waiting for her. She smiled tiredly at Helena, seeming to understand why she had spent so long just staring at wooden siding and windows. She dropped their bags and pulled Helena forward into a kiss.

“Now we’re really home,” Myka whispered against her lips.

“Now we’re home,” Helena echoed, inching forward to capture Myka’s lips again. It was the first time she had felt Myka’s lip on hers outside of a dream since their first kiss so very long ago in the grand scheme of things, though seemingly in this universe it had only been last night. It was a strange thought to have, but Myka’s lips quickly drove it from her mind. It didn’t matter now, only the woman in front her did.

“Helena,” Myka moaned lowly, pulling back from her just enough to gasp in a breath.

“Yes, darling?” She leaned forward and rested her forehead against Myka’s.

“A dream ending won’t interrupt us this time.”

Helena could hear the smile in the other woman’s voice, even if she couldn’t quite see the quirk of the other woman’s lips. “No, it won’t.”

“Everyone is asleep.”

“That they are.” Helena detached her forehead from Myka’s and whispered in her ear. “Or at least they are now.” She nibbled lightly on Myka’s earlobe. “You can be quite loud sometimes when you _come_ back from missions, darling.”

Myka’s gasp sent a shiver down her spine. She suddenly didn’t feel tired at all. She was filled with an overwhelming urge to need to make Myka scream her name at the top of her lungs.

“I think we should take advantage of that.” Myka licked the shell of her ear.

Helena clutched hard onto Myka’s arms to keep herself steady.

“And who said it was going to be _me_ waking everyone up?” Myka pulled back from Helena and shot her a cocky smirk before picking up her bag and shooting inside the B &B.

Helena sat there dumbfounded for a minute. This certainly wasn’t the woman she had left the universe with. A smile lit Helena’s face. That most certainly didn’t seem to be a bad thing. She picked up her own bag and shot after Myka.

 

Helena walked into Myka’s room after finding the door slightly ajar. The other woman was nowhere in sight. She frowned. Where had she gone off to in the minute she was alone?

The door clicking shut behind her caused her to whip her head around. Myka was leaning against the door smirking. Her button up hung open, revealing the white tank top underneath. Helena swallowed looking up and down Myka’s lithe form. She couldn’t remember ever being luckier.

Myka flipped the lock behind her and stepped forward. She gently slipped Helena’s bag off her shoulder. Her arms circled Helena’s waist and drew her forward. Myka’s lips met hers almost hesitantly, the exact opposite of what she had been downstairs.  Helena smiled into the kiss and wrapped her arms around Myka’s neck drawing her even closer.

They kissed slowly for a long while, just enjoying the feel of the other’s mouth really being on their own. Helena darted her tongue forward to swipe at Myka’s lips. Myka allowed her access instantly, which Helena gladly took advantage of, slipping her tongue inside and exploring Myka thoroughly. Myka’s lips tasted heavenly, but her mouth was a godly experience. Myka’s tongue massaged hers gently as she went about her exploration. Helena felt as if she was going to pass out. Nothing else had ever felt like this before among her many lovers.

She broke from Myka’s mouth and gasped for air and smiling like a fool. Myka took the opportunity to lean forward and to start kissing Helena’s neck, mixing in little bites among the kisses. Helena suppressed a low moan. Her knees went slightly weak. Myka had found the spot that made her putty in someone’s hands without even trying. She laced her fingers through curly hair and held Myka to her. Myka hummed her approval and went about sucking on Helena’s neck hard, marking her.

Helena’s eyelids fluttered. She had never understood the concept of marking and had hated being marked herself, but Myka’s mouth sucking hard and long on her skin, tongue swirling, soothing light bites interspersed…well she understood now. Her fingers tightened in Myka’s hair eliciting another moan.

Nimble fingers started unbuttoning her shirt from the bottom up. She thanked herself for forgoing an undershirt today as Myka’s hands brushed against the bare skin of her stomach. She untangled her hands from Myka’s hair. Helena desperately needed to feel Myka’s skin on her own. Right this instant. She was sure she might perish if she didn’t have Myka against her in the next minute. She slid Myka’s button up off her shoulders and onto the floor easily. The tank top was a little trickier. She tugged it up but Myka was hard pressed to separate from her assault on her neck. She grumbled a little before straightening and letting Helena pull off her shirt.

Helena stared, dumbfounded for a few seconds. The woman was stunningly beautiful, standing in her bra and black dress pants. Myka met her eyes, green blown wide with lust. She smiled timidly, a light blush painting her cheeks. Helena stepped forward, letting her own unbuttoned shirt fall to the ground. She reached out and wrapped her arms loosely around Myka’s waist, making small circles with her thumb on the skin of Myka’s back.

“Beautiful,” she breathed. She leaned forward and started to kiss down Myka’s neck making her way to her chest. She felt Myka’s breathing speed under her touch.

“I think I pale in comparison to you,” Myka managed to gasp out as Helena’s lips traced the line of her bra.

Helena nipped lightly and looked up to Myka again from her place on her chest. “Nonsense.”

“Agree to disagree.”

Helena pursed her lips. “For now, but one day you’ll agree with me.”

Myka laughed, but it quickly turned into a gasp as Helena continued her trail across Myka’s chest. Her arms came up from Myka’s lower back and toyed with the clasp of Myka’s bra lightly. After a few seconds she quickly grabbed it and unhooked it with one hand. She stood straight again, capturing Myka’s lips with her own, still holding Myka’s bra up with her body.

She felt Myka’s arms curl around her and unhook her own bra with a tiny bit of fumbling. Helena found it endearing. Myka was the one this time who asked for entrance into Helena’s mouth. Helena sighed and granted permission, eyes fluttering shut as Myka’s tongue came in and stroked every single place that drew sighs and quiet moans from Helena. She wished that this could go on and on forever, but she was afraid she would combust before that could happen.

Myka stepped back and let both of their bras fall to the floor. Helena’s eyes blinked open slowly. She was almost sure for a second that she had somehow brought a Greek statue back to life and it was standing in front of her. How, oh how, in the world had she managed to capture a woman so perfect in every way?

“Myka,” she breathed out.

Myka smiled and stepped forward again. They both gasped as their nipples came in contact with each other. Myka’s arms wrapped around her neck as kissed Helena hard, pressing even more into the other woman. Helena couldn’t resist dragging her nails down Myka’s back lightly. Myka moaned loudly into Helena’s mouth and kissed her harder.

One of Myka’s hands slid from her neck and slowly made its way down her body, parting them slightly so it could get access to one of Helena’s nipples. Myka pinched the nipple lightly as first, but slowly added more and more pressure until Helena thought she was going to become a puddle at Myka’s feet from all of the pleasure rocketing through her. The other hand soon followed, giving her other nipple the same treatment.

Helena was absolutely sure the panties she was wearing were completely and utterly ruined. It would be a wonder if she hadn’t started to soak through her pants as well. Myka just affected her so greatly.

Not to be outdone Helena stepped back slightly and lowered her head to Myka’s chest, licking an already hard peak lightly. Myka shivered beneath her.

“Helena.” It was a breathy moan. Helena felt another gush of wetness flow out of her. She was not quite sure she was going to survive this.

Helena wrapped her mouth around the hardened bud, swirling her tongue in nonsensical fashion with no pattern. Myka’s hands came up and laced her hands through Helena’s hair. She scratched Helena’s scalp lightly. Helena moaned, quieted by the skin still in her mouth. Another shiver wracked Myka’s frame as the moan vibrated through her.

She started to suck and Myka’s hands tightened, pulling her hair hard. Helena wrapped her hands around Myka’s hips and squeezed. She wanted this to be gentle and loving, but as Myka moaned as Helena’s fingers dug into her hips, it seemed like this wasn’t going to go exactly the way she planned.

Helena nipped the nipple she was sucking on once, hard enough for Myka to gasp and thrust her chest forward for more. Helena chuckled before pulling back and giving her other nipple the same treatment.

Myka finally managed to tear her hands from Helena’s hair. They skimmed down her body leaving goose bumps in their wake. Her fingers lightly trailed the hem of Helena’s pants for a few moments before coming to rest at the button. In a quick flick of her wrist Myka had Helena’s pants pooling on the floor. Helena hummed her approval. The cool air felt wonderful against her over heated skin, but it was nothing compared to the relief of Myka’s touch.

Her own hands slipped from Myka’s hips to the zipper on the Myka’s pants. She unbuttoned them slowly, looking up at Myka all the while. Myka’s eyes were partway closed, still thoroughly enjoying the feeling of Helena’s mouth on her.

When Myka’s pants were on the ground in front of her own she stepped back, kicking her pants off completely. Myka’s eyes fluttered open staring at Helena with a tiny frown. Helena smiled at her before stepping forward again.

“I think it might be time to take this to a more comfortable place, don’t you, darling?” Helena grabbed Myka’s hips and started to back the other woman towards her own bed steadily.

Myka’s knees hit the bed and she let herself fall gracefully down onto it. Helena was on top of her in a second groaning as so much of their skin came into contact. She felt like she could just sink into Myka at this point. God, she would savor every sensation if that was possible, but laying on top of Myka was a close second.

She leaned forward and started to leaving butterfly kisses across all of Myka’s body that she could reach. She nipped Myka’s earlobe, kissed her forehead and cheeks, licked a line up Myka’s neck following the tendon, drawn taught as Myka flung her head back, overwhelmed by the feelings.

One of Myka’s legs came up between her own and pressed hard against her center. Helena’s eyes rolled back as she released a long, low moan. Myka pressed a little harder and Helena had to keep herself from actively collapsing completely into Myka. She could practically hear Myka smirking.

The smirk got even louder as Myka used the leg she had in-between Helena’s as leverage to flip them over. Helena shot Myka a tiny frown from the bottom, but Myka erased any complaints as she started to kiss down Helena’s body, spending long moments anywhere she left a kiss or nip that made Helena moan or twitch. By the time Myka made it to laying between Helena’s legs she was practically whimpering with need. Myka bit the inside of Helena’s thigh hard. Helena arched off the bed and had to bite back a scream. Myka’s hands wrapped around her hips and pressed her back into the bed. Her tongue soothed the bite before trailing up again to trace the legs of Helena’s panties.

“Myka,” she whined. The other woman was so close to where she needed her.

“Helena,” Myka whined back.

“Please.” She couldn’t think in any sentences longer than one word.

“Please what?”

Her hands shot out and gripped Myka’s hair and shoved her face into her underwear covered center. Myka chuckled, sending little arcs of pleasure rocketing through Helena at the vibrations.

“Someone might be a little bit desperate?” Myka pulled back just enough to speak, letting out a little sigh of breath as Helena’s grip in her hair increased.

“God please!”

With one last kiss to the inside of her thigh Myka conceded. She sat up slightly, grabbing the edge of Helena’s underwear and pulling down. Helena’s hips shot off the bed to help her get the underwear over her ass. Myka pushed her back down to the bed a second later. She settled back between Helena’s thighs and groaned at the sight before her.

“God, Helena, you’re dripping.” She leaned forward and licked lightly at Helena’s outer lips catching the drops that were trying to escape and soak into the bed sheets.

Helena gasped in a breath and slammed her head back into the pillows. She fisted her hands into the sheets, gripping so hard she turned her knuckles bright white. Myka threw one of Helena’s legs over her shoulder and leaned forward again. Helena whimpered loudly as Myka’s tongue ran the length of her slit.

“My-ka!”

Myka smiled into her before starting to lick in earnest, keeping her strokes random, not building any pattern and purposely avoiding her clit. Helena started to make sounds that she wasn’t even sure had been humanly possible before. She was sure that she was going to go insane sometime soon if Myka didn’t give her what she needed.

And suddenly there were two fingers filling her. Helena screamed, unable to muffle it this time. Myka started to thrust slowly in and out of her, still not enough to drive her over the edge, but just enough to keep her on the precipice. Her tongue kept up its random movements. Helena started to squirm, body trying to seek any extra friction desperately. Myka just chuckled and looped her free arm around Helena’s hips again and pinned her down.

“Oh, god, darling, please!” she half moaned and half sobbed out.

Myka latched onto her clit and her fingers started to speed up. Helena felt like crying she was so relieved. The heat in her stomach started to build at an extremely fast rate. It wasn’t going to take anytime at all with how worked up she was. With one last suck on her clit and a curl of her fingers Myka sent Helena hurtling over the edge, screaming Myka’s name. Stars crossed her vision and heat soaked her every limb, sending waves and waves of pleasure through her. Myka kept up her pace, extending the orgasm as long as possible. Helena started to lose herself in the pleasure that seemed never ending.

 

Helena blinked up at the other woman later. She shook her head a little bit. She must have passed out. Her body was extremely weighed down and exhausted. She couldn’t remember ever having come so hard in her life.

“Morning, sunshine,” Myka whispered to her smiling.

“It is decidedly not morning.”

“Not yet, but soon. We didn’t exactly get back too early.”

Helena hummed. “That was amazing, darling.” She nestled into Myka’s side. “How in the world did you even do half of that?”

“College experiments helped with the general gist of it, but after that it was just responding to you.”

“Amazing.” She laid a kiss on Myka’s bare shoulder. “You’re simply amazing in every way.”

She could feel the slight heat of a blush coloring Myka’s skin. Helena flexed her muscles. They felt like jello, but she was capable of movement.

She rolled over on top of Myka, covering her body with her own. She smiled down at bright green eyes. “But now, darling, it’s my turn to make you feel amazing.” She took Myka’s wrists gently in one of her hands and pinned them above the other woman’s head. “And no more of that flipping us right when I’m about to get to the best part.”

Myka sighed like that would be a hardship, but the corners of her mouth turned up. “Fine, I suppose.”

Helena flexed her leg, bringing it up to press against Myka. Myka moaned quietly. Helena smirked.

“You’re not going to _want_ to go anywhere, darling. I’ll make sure of that.” And with that she dove forward and captured Myka’s lips in a kiss that quickly turned heated. They both took turns controlling the direction the kiss took. Helena sighed into the kiss and stroked her hands gently up and down Myka’s bare skin. She couldn’t recall ever being this comfortable and safe with a lover.

She slipped her free hand under Myka with a little bit of maneuvering and squeezed her ass hard, digging in her nails a little. Myka moaned a little louder, thrusting down into Helena’s hands. She continued her massage as she moved her mouth, dropping kisses across Myka’s jaw and neck until she reached her collarbone. Helena licked along the outline of the bone, tracing from shoulder to shoulder. Myka shivered under her, a quiet whimper escaping her. Helena smirked as much as she could while going back across Myka’s collarbone and biting hard enough to bruise. Myka started to squirm under her, trying to press harder into Helena’s thigh.

Helena laughed and removed her thigh. A low groan of frustration ripped from the younger woman. Helena leaned down and whispered into Myka’s ear after nibbling her earlobe for a few seconds.

“Turnabout is fair play, darling.”

“Helena.” Myka pushed her lip out in the cutest version of a pout Helena had ever seen. She leaned down and kissed it right off the other woman’s face.

“Now, now, darling. I promise we will both get what we want by the end of this.”

Helena slipped her hand out from under Myka and circled around to Myka’s front. She rose up on her knees, separating their bodies. She felt the loss immediately. Myka’s skin was addicting it seemed. But there were more gratifying pursuits to be had at the moment. Myka’s skin could be saved for later.

Helena’s fingers traced the top of Myka’s mound lightly. She chuckled as Myka’s hips canted up to try and move her fingers where they were needed. Helena just moved them slowly away until Myka’s hips returned to a normal position. She repeated the process several times until Myka finally got the message that her hips were to remain firmly on the bed if she wished for anything to happen.

Her fingers finally slipped into Myka’s folds. Both of them groaned at the same time. Myka was so incredibly wet and silky. It felt like heaven around her fingers. It almost convinced her to just plunge inside the other woman and forget all of the teasing she had planned, but she managed to refrain if only just.

Her fingers traced the same paths that Myka’s tongue had earlier, purposely avoiding the most sensitive parts of her. Myka managed to blink open her eyes at her and glare, but there was no intensity to it. Helena was sure even if there had been any heat behind the look it would’ve been taken away by the ripples of pleasure contorting Myka’s expression every few seconds.

When she felt Myka start to tremble under her fingers she finally gave in and moved up to circle Myka’s clit lazily. Myka cried out, her hands bunching into fists above her head where Helena still had them pinned. As Helena increased the pace of her circling a stream of whimpers started to come out of Myka’s mouth. The sounds shot a bolt of arousal to Helena’s core and she groaned lightly. God, what this woman _did_ to her should be outlawed.

Helena released Myka’s wrists, pushing them into the bed. “Stay,” she said simply. Her other hand slowly trailed down Myka’s body, stopping shortly at Myka’s breasts and tweaking her nipples hard a few times, earning her high, inhuman keens from Myka. Her hand moved on stroking down the perfect body in front of her until she shifted enough to allow her other hand to circle Myka’s entrance.

“Yes!” Myka screamed.

Helena smiled and plunged one finger in quickly. Her eyes fluttered shut as liquid heat encased her finger. God, it was even more perfect than she imagined it would be.  She started to thrust in an out slowly. Myka met her thrust for thrust, and Helena was so lost in the feeling she couldn’t chastise Myka for moving without permission.

“More,” Myka husked out, head thrown back, tendons in her neck thrown into sharp relief, begging Helena to bite them the next time she had a chance.

Helena obliged and thrust another finger inside her lover, loving how she stretched easily to accommodate her. She sped up her thrusts slowly and still Myka met her thrusts with her hips. Myka’s breaths came fast and shuddering, not having enough air it seemed anymore to make any noise. Her walls started to spasm around her fingers and Helena smiled. Myka was so very close. Helena thrust in a third finger and sped up her thrusts even more, curling her fingers just the right way to hit the rough patch inside of Myka. And then her fingers were gripped like a vice, not allowing her to move. Helena stroked Myka’s inner walls, still circling around her clit to help her ride out the orgasm.

When she crashed back to the bed Helena slowly pulled out her fingers and crawled up to lie beside her. She brought her fingers up to her mouth and cleaned them off one by one, groaning at the tangy taste of Myka. Myka blinked awake just as she was finishing up.

“Welcome back, darling.”

Myka rolled slightly into her body and sighed. “Not back yet.”

Helena snorted and trailed a hand up and down Myka’s back gently. A few deep breaths later and Myka looked up at her.

“Back now?” she smiled down warmly at her lover.

“I think so.”

She leaned forward and kissed Myka’s forehead gently. “Good.”

Myka’s arms wrapped around her waist and drew her forward. “I feel like I have been waiting forever to do that.”

Helena smiled. “I know what you mean, darling.”

They laid like that for a long time, cuddling and trading lazy kisses. Helena felt so warm and secure she was sure she didn’t want to leave the bed she was in ever again. Especially when Myka rolled over on her and smirked down at her with a mischievous look.  

“Round two?” she asked

“Oh, darling, is that even a question?”

Myka laughed and leaned down and kissed Helena quickly. “Not really.”

Helena laughed and surged up again, kissing Myka hard.

By the time they fell back against the bed, limbs tired and exhausted and unable to move another inch, they were bathed in early morning light. Helena rolled over and threw an arm over Myka’s waist, tucking her head under Myka’s chin. Myka hummed, eyes drooping closed as the morning sun traced the contours of her face. Helena sighed in contentment and snuggled further into Myka.

“Love you,” Myka murmured. She let out one last long yawn and then her breathing started to even out once again.

Helena smiled widely into Myka’s skin “I love you too, darling.”

The corners of Myka’s mouth twitched up, but she didn’t speak, slipping off to sleep easily.

Helena relaxed into Myka and shut her eyes. Sleep came easily, and for the first time in a long time she didn’t dream.

 

 


	50. Chapter 50

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, hey, actually reached the end here. I'm sort of amazed after a year and a half. Thank you to everyone for reading, double thanks to those who left comments and kudos, y'all made writing this story worth it.

When Myka finally blinked open her eyes what seemed like hours later the room was bathed in late afternoon light. Helena’s even breaths tickled her neck, the woman’s arm still gripping her around the waist. Myka smiled and placed a small kiss on the woman’s hair. Last night had been all she had expected it to be and more. She saw a string of similar nights stretching before her in an infinite line. They could have that now that they were finally home, that she had finally admitted her feelings for the other woman, that everything had finally fallen into place.

In a way she was sort of grateful that everything with the pen had happened. She wasn’t quite sure that she and Helena would be in the same place as they were now. And now that she was here, lying naked in Helena’s arms after quite literally the best, most loving, and by far the most meaningful sex she had ever had, she couldn’t quite imagine being anywhere else. She wasn’t the same woman who had left this universe all those weeks ago and the change was one that Myka was happy with.

Helena started to stir under her. Myka looked down at her as her eyelids started to flutter with a warm smile on her face. When Helena finally managed to open her eyes, still blinking again the bright light in the room, Myka started to run her fingers through Helena’s dark hair. She could have sworn that Helena started to purr in response.

“Morning, darling,” Helena husked out, voice roughened by sleep and the screaming they’d done during the night.

“Morning.” Myka’s voice wasn’t much better and she liked it that way, a constant reminder of what had transpired between the two of them.

“How long have you been awake?” Helena asked, making no move to sit up and separate herself from Myka.

“Not long, just a few minutes longer than you.”

Helena nodded slightly. “What time is it?”

Myka shrugged, jostling Helena’s shoulder. “Don’t know, sometime in the late afternoon, other than that I have no idea. I wasn’t really paying attention to a clock.”

“And tell me, darling, what exactly were you paying attention to?”

“You,” Myka replied simply.

“Well, I offer a better view than a clock, surely, but my countenance doesn’t tell time sadly.”

Myka snorted. “Not a least of the hour and minute variety.” She traced the slight laugh lines on Helena’s face.

“Oh, good point, never thought of that.” Helena’s hand came up and grabbed Myka’s pulling it down to rest on Myka’s stomach.

“You’re the one who loves technicalities.”

Helena quirked her lips up. “Guilty as charged, but perhaps my mind is still recovering from last night, darling.”

“Aren’t we all?”

Helena laughed in earnest, drawing Myka further into her, throwing a leg over the other woman’s.

“I think anyone who went through such an ordeal would need at least three days to recover.”

“I’m not going to need three days. I plan to be doing that again _very_ soon.” Myka smirked.

Helena looked up at her, brown eyes glinting with mischief. “Oh, yes of course, but we aren’t anyone, darling. We like to change the rules, remember?”

“Oh, I definitely do.”      

They laid in each other’s embrace for a long while, listening to the shuffling of people in the B&B going about their days. Myka kept carding her fingers through Helena’s hair. Helena took to circling her thumb over the skin of Myka’s hip. The silence between them was natural and comfortable. Myka really never recalled just being with another person being so easy and real.

“You know, it’s odd. It seems like nothing ever happened, at least on the surface. I mean, I know it happened, but at the same time…” Myka trailed off.

Helena nodded into Myka’s neck. “I know what you mean, darling. It really doesn’t seem real if you think about it too hard, but then again everything at the Warehouse seems to be like that.”

Myka snorted lightly. “Yeah, true enough. But most artifacts leave some sort of trace, you know? But this one didn’t, the only proof is the fact that we have the pen and the memories from the ordeal. And only one of those is hard evidence, the memories could just be hallucinations for all we know.”

“Do you really believe that?” Helena looked up at her, questioning.

Myka paused to think. “No. Not really, but it could seem like it to anyone else. There’s just…it was too real. The differences between the people here and the people in those universes, they were things my brain would have never come up with in a hallucination. I definitely wouldn’t have thought about using Morgan Le Fay’s spell book to bring back the Warehouse. But I mean, even with all the more factual stuff about the other universes…it just felt like it was real, like it was happening, even when I didn’t want it to be real.”

Helena nodded. “I know what you mean. I never really thought of it as a hallucination. I thought the pen had just sent us back in time or some such matter. It was a terrifying thought, really.”

Myka hummed her agreement. “I mean if even everything was a hallucination caused by the pen the consequences are real and that would make it real enough, I suppose.”

Helena kissed Myka’s neck, lingering for a few seconds before looking up at Myka again. “I can’t say I’m opposed to the consequences.”

Myka leaned down and kissed Helena soundly. She drew back smiling a minute later. “I can’t say I am either.”

Helena smiled up at her. “How do you suppose scientists would feel to know that we’ve traveled to two different universes?”

“If they believed us? God, I don’t think we’d be able keep the pen away from them. They’d all want to go study the other universes just because it was possible. The scientific community would be in an uproar. Then again, if they knew about half of the stuff in the Warehouse they’d have the same reaction.”

“True enough, you should have seen me when I first walked into the Warehouse. It was like a field day.”

Yelling started on the floor below them. They made out Claudia’s voice and Pete’s voice and the sound of pounding feet. Helena smiled up at Myka. Myka just rolled her eyes.

“Fighting over the remote again?” Helena asked Myka.

“Oh, definitely. And Claud has managed to hack the TV again and change it without Pete’s permission.”

“And so the chase begins.”

They both laughed and shook their heads. Both of them came pounding up the stairs, still yelling. Both women just looked at the door, smiling. Claudia’s door slammed and locked and they heard her cackling. Pete’s whining filtered through the door.

“They’ll never learn, will they?” Myka asked.

“No, I don’t think they will, but at least they make things interesting.”

“Like we need any more interesting.”

Helena’s thumb started to make circles on Myka’s hip again. “Ah, but they make it the normal kind of interesting. And that’s something we do need a little bit of every now and again.”

Myka sighed, pressing Helena into her further. “Yeah.” She paused for a second before continuing. “I’m glad we’re back with our family.”

“I am too, darling.”

A knock came from Myka’s door. “Hey Mykes? I know you guys are up finally. I can hear you talking, sleepy heads. Look, can you take back your ferret? He keeps getting out of his cage and chewing on my socks. I only have a couple pairs left now.”

Both Helena and Myka looked at each other and started laughing so hard that tears flowed down their cheeks. It really was good to be home and in the arms of the one they loved. 

 


End file.
